DIFFERENTIATION BETWEEN YEAST SPECIES, AND STRAINS WITHIN A SPECIES, BY CELLULAR FATTY-ACID ANALYSIS .4. SACCHAROMYCES-SENSU-STRICTO, HANSENIASPORA, SACCHAROMYCODES AND WICKERHAMIELLA

The cellular long-chain fatty acids (FA's) of 88 strains representing 12 yeast species were examined by gas chromatographic analysis on a polar capillary column. Mass spectral evidence for the presence of C16:2(9, 12), C17:2(8, 11), C17:2(9, 12), and C16:3(9, 12, 15) in the cellular fatty acid profile (CFAP) of Saccharomyces kluyveri is presented, the latter acid being only the second trienoic FA to be positively identified in yeasts. The mean relative percentages (MRP's) of 15 fatty acids were used to differentiate between strains and species. Data were compared by visual examination, analysis of variance (ANOVA), calculation of similarity coefficients (So) and stepwise discriminant analysis (SDA). ANOVA failed to differentiate between many strains in various Hanseniaspora spp but So-values indicated that no two strains had exactly equivalent CFAP's. Saccharomyces kluyveri has a CFAP unique amongst the species of Saccharomyces, but the CFAP's of Sacch. bayanus, Sacch. cerevisiae, and Sacch. pastorianus do not allow differentiation between these three species. As a group the latter three species clearly have CFAP's different to all other yeasts included in the study. The CFAP's of the Hanseniaspora spp differed from all other species studied as did the profiles of Saccharomycodes ludwigii and Wickerhamiella domercqiae. The CFAP's of the different Hanseniaspora spp were verv similar and so precluded differentiation between these species.