Expanding world of ballistosporous yeasts: Distribution in the phyllosphere, systematics and phylogeny

Ecological and systematic aspects of ballistosporous yeasts inhabiting the phyllosphere of the Asia-Pacific region were reviewed in the light of recent advances. In the past 20 years, the extensive isolation studies of ballistosporous yeasts were carried out in the Asia-Pacific region, and the following new species were found in the phyllosphere of the main island of Japan, of the Ogasawara Islands in the Pacific Ocean, and of Thailand, New Zealand, and the Yunnan Province of China: Bensingtonia ingoldii, B. intermedia, B. miscanthi, B. naganoensis, B. musae, B. sakaguchii, B. subrosea, B. thailandica, and B. yamatoana; Bullera boninensis, B. coprosmaensis, B. hannae, B. huiaensis, B. miyagiana, B. mrakii, B. oryzae, B. penniseticola, B. pseodoalba, B. schimicola, B. sinensis, B. unica, B. variabilis, and B. waltii; Kockovaella imperatae, K. machilophila, K. phaffii, K. sacchari, K. schimae, and K. thailandica; Sporobolomyces blumeae, S. coprosmae, S. coprosmicola, S. dimmenae, S. draycophyllus, S. falcatus, S. griseoflavos, S. inositophilus, S. lactophilos, S. linderae, S. novazealandicus, S. nylandii, S. oryzicola, S. poonsookiae, S. ruber, S. sasicola, S. subbrunneus, S. taupoensis, S. vermiculatus, S. xanthos, and S. yunnanensis; and Odeniomyces megalosporus. Yeast species containing Q-10(H-2), a monohydrated ubiquinone, have long been considered to be rare yeasts; however, these yeasts were proved to be common in the tropical and subtropical phyllosphere of Asia. The chemotaxonomic and molecular phylogenetic studies based on the sequence analysis of 18S rDNA revealed the heterogeneity of ballistosporous yeasts, which comprised species with polyphyletic phylogenetic origins. A new phylogenetic cluster, Subbrunneus, was newly found in the class Urediniomycetes as the fifth phylogenetical cluster of this class, based on the analysis of 18S rDNA sequences. The Subbrunneus cluster comprises four ballistosporous yeast species found in the phyllosphere of Japan and New Zealand. The future perspectives of basidiomycetous yeast systematics are discussed.