The Wickerhamomycetaceae are a

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

yeast Yeasts are eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms classified as members of the fungus kingdom. The first yeast originated hundreds of millions of years ago, and at least 1,500 species are currently recognized. They are estimated to constit ...

s in the order

Saccharomycetales Saccharomycetales belongs to the kingdom of Fungi and the division Ascomycota. It is the only order in the class Saccharomycetes. There are currently 13 families recognized as belonging to Saccharomycetales. GBIF also includes; Alloascoideacea ...

that reproduce by

budding Budding or blastogenesis is a type of asexual reproduction in which a new organism develops from an outgrowth or bud due to cell division at one particular site. For example, the small bulb-like projection coming out from the yeast cell is kno ...

. Species in the family have a widespread distribution. Genus ''Wickerhamomyces'' used to be placed within

Phaffomycetaceae The Phaffomycetaceae are a family of yeasts in the order Saccharomycetales that reproduce by budding. Species in the family have a widespread distribution. The family are named after '' Phaffomyces'' but it was placed in the Pichiaceae fungi fa ...

family, until 2008 when it was separated and placed within its own order Wickerhamomycetaceae. Beneficially, various Wickerhamomyces species have been used in a number of biotechnologically applications, such as in the environment, food, beverage industries, (including wine making, ) biofuel, medicine and agriculture.

Description

The fungi has asexual reproduction and that budding is multilateral on a narrow base. The cells are spherical, ovoid, or elongate in shape. Pseudohyphae and true hyphae (a long, branching, filamentous structure) are produced by some species. In sexual reproduction, it is found that the asci (spore bearing cell) may be unconjugated or show conjugation between a cell and its bud or between independent cells. Some species are

heterothallic Heterothallic species have sexes that reside in different individuals. The term is applied particularly to distinguish heterothallic fungi, which require two compatible partners to produce sexual spores, from homothallic ones, which are capable ...

(species have sexes that reside in different individuals). Asci may be persistent or deliquescent and form one to four ascospores that may be hat-shaped or spherical with an equatorial ledge. It can be found in soils, on plant material (such as phylloplane of rice,) and also as an opportunistic

pathogen In biology, a pathogen ( el, πάθος, "suffering", "passion" and , "producer of") in the oldest and broadest sense, is any organism or agent that can produce disease. A pathogen may also be referred to as an infectious agent, or simply a germ ...

of humans and animals.Pietro Buzzini, Marc-André Lachance and Andrey Yurkov (editor)

Genera

According to

GBIF The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) is an international organisation that focuses on making scientific data on biodiversity available via the Internet using web services. The data are provided by many institutions from around the ...

, and the

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of com ...

and the Agricultural Research Service; Figures in brackets are approx. how many species per genus. ''Wickerhamomyces anomalus'' is normally found on plants, but has been found in sugar, dry salted beans,

sauerkraut Sauerkraut (; , "sour cabbage") is finely cut raw cabbage that has been fermented by various lactic acid bacteria. It has a long shelf life and a distinctive sour flavor, both of which result from the lactic acid formed when the bacteria ferm ...

and in cucumber brines.

References

Other sources

* Kurtzman, C. P., C. J. Robnett, and E. Basehoar-Powers. 2008. Phylogenetic relationships among species of Pichia, Issatchenkia and Williopsis determined from multigene sequence analysis, and the proposal of Barnettozyma gen. nov., Lindnera gen. nov. and Wickerhamomyces gen. nov. FEMS Yeast Res 8:939-54. {{Taxonbar, from=Q107012714 Yeasts Saccharomycetes Ascomycota families