Susceptibility of Saccharomyces spp. and Schwanniomyces spp. to the aminoglycoside antibiotic G418.

Industrially useful polyploid yeasts such as the brewing yeasts do not possess any auxotrophic genetic markers and hence are not easily amenable to plasmid-mediated DNA transformations. In an attempt to obtain genetic markers, a number of useful Saccharomyces sp. strains and some amylolytic Schwanniomyces sp. strains were tested for their susceptibility to the antibiotic Geneticin G418 , a 2-deoxystreptamine reported to be active against bacteria, yeasts, and plant and animal cells. All of the Saccharomyces sp. strains, including the brewing strains, were found to be susceptible to G418 in the concentration range of 150 to 500 micrograms/ml. Of the three Schwanniomyces species investigated, only Schwanniomyces castellii (strain 1402) was found to be resistant to G418 at concentrations up to 1 mg/ml. Resistance was exhibited both in liquid media and on glycerol-peptone-yeast extract agar plates. This finding is interesting in view of the possibility of using this strain as a DNA donor for transformations aimed at introducing the amylolytic capability into brewing yeasts.