Assimilation of volatiles from ripe apples by Sporidiobolus salmonicolor and Tilletiopsis washingtonensis.

Sporidiobolus salmonicolor ATCC 623 and Tilletiopsis washingtonensis NRRL Y-2555 grew on carbon resources provided as volatiles by ripe 'Golden Delicious' apples. This ability was not correlated with the reported natural habitats of the 21 species (26 strains) tested. Ethylene, the major volatile produced, was not utilized but butyl acetate, hexyl acetate and hexyl-2-methyl-butanoate (identified by GC-MS) were. These yeasts also assimilated ethanol, butanol, hexanol (Tilletiopsis excepted), acetate, propionate, butyrate and ethyl acetate at appropriately low concentrations. Ethanol and acetate aside, this is the first report of such assimilations by any yeast.