Naohidea akebiae fa. sp. nov., an anamorphic basidiomycete yeast species.

A novel basidiomycete yeast species represented by strain NYNU 2211328 was isolated from a leaf of Akebia trifoliata collected from the Baotianman Nature Reserve in Henan Province, central China. Phylogenetic analysis of the D1/D2 domain of the large subunit rRNA gene and the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region suggested that this strain is closely related to Naohidea sebacea CBS 8477, exhibiting the similarity values of 96.5% and 91.3% in the D1/D2 domain and the ITS region, respectively. Physiologically, the novel strain differs from N. sebacea in its ability to assimilate inulin, trehalose and d-arabinose, its inability to assimilate dl-lactate and its incapability of growth at 30 °C. Both phenotypic and phylogenetic analyses indicated that the isolated strain represents a novel species in the genus Naohidea, and the name Naohidea akebiae fa. sp. nov. (holotype: CICC 33584; MycoBank number: MB 855585) is proposed.