Mannose-containing polysaccharides of the apiculate yeasts Nadsonia, Hanseniaspora, Kloeckera, and Sacharomycodes, and their use as an aid in classification.

The mannose-containing polysaccharides formed by species of Nadsonia, Hanseniaspora, Kloeckera, and Saccharomycodes were extracted with hot aqueous alkali and purified by precipitation as their copper complexes. N. fulvescens and N. elongata formed galactomannans, while Hanseniaspora and Kloeckera species and S. ludwigii formed mannans. H. valbyensis, H. uvarum, and K. apiculata were a group which formed mannans which had identical H-1 regions in their proton magnetic resonance (PMR) spectra, and H. osmophila, K. africana, and K. magna mannas formed another group based on similar spectra. K. javanica formed a mannan with an H-1 spectral region which resembled that of the H. valbyensis group in some respects and that of the H. osmophila group in others. The H-1 portion of the PMR spectrum of S. lugwigii mannan was very complex and was unlike that of any other apiculate yeast studied.