Torulaspora markjohnstonii J. Al-Oboudi, M. Silva, F. Paraíso, K. Sylvester, Q.K. Langdon, J.-L. Legras, D.A. Opulente, J.P. Sampaio & Hittinger, 2025

Torulaspora markjohnstonii J. Al-Oboudi, M. Silva, F. Paraíso, K. Sylvester, Q.K. Langdon, J.-L. Legras, D.A. Opulente, J.P. Sampaio & Hittinger , sp. nov. MB 853981 View Materials . Fig. 4S, T View Fig .

Etymology: Torulaspora markjohnstonii . mark.john’sto.ni.i, N.L. gen. n. markjohnstonii, of Mark Johnston, in honor of Mark Johnston, in recognition of his lifelong contributions to yeast genetics and genomics.

Typus: USA, North Carolina, Winston-Salem, soil under Acer saccharinum , 2014, L. Shown (holotype PYCC 9891 View Materials H, ex-holotype cultures PYCC 9891 View Materials , CBS 18641 View Materials ). The holotype is permanently maintained in a metabolically inactive state in the Portuguese Yeast Culture Collection, Caparica, Portugal. The genome of this species was deposited at DDBJ /ENA/ GenBank under the accession GCA_048593755. The version described in this paper is v. 1 .

Description: After 1 wk on YM agar at 25 °C, cultures are smooth, cream-coloured, and butyrous. After 3 d of growth on YM agar at 25 °C, cells are globose (3–5.5 µm) to sub-globose (2.5–6 × 2–4 µm) and occur singly or in pairs, and proliferation is by multilateral budding ( Fig. 4S View Fig ). On Dalmau plates after 2 wk at 25 °C, no pseudohyphae nor true hyphae are formed. Sexual reproduction is observed on acetate agar after 10 d at 17 °C, and the cultures appear to be homothallic. Cellular extensions that resemble conjugation tubes are frequent and usually are not involved in conjugation. Asci are persistent and normally are formed after conjugation involving a cell and its bud. Asci produce one to two smooth and spherical ascospores, measuring 2–3 µm diam. ( Fig. 4T View Fig ). The physiological and biochemical profile of the species in shown in Table 1 and Table S5.

Habitat and distribution: This species was found in the bark of Quercus pubescens ( Italy), and Q. robur ( Portugal), soil ( USA), and in a cider brewery ( France). Currently known from collections in Europe and USA.

Additional cultures examined: PYCC 9561, PYCC 8308, PYCC 9892 (see Table S1 for details).