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We are pleased to announce the publication of a new research article titled “Genomic insights into adaptive traits of phyllosphere yeasts” in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Microbiome.
The study explores how yeasts adapt to life on plant leaves—the phyllosphere—an environment characterized by fluctuating conditions and limited nutrient availability. Although yeasts are ubiquitous microorganisms found across diverse ecosystems, their genomic adaptation to plant-associated lifestyles has remained largely understudied.
In this work, the authors established a taxonomically diverse yeast culture collection from the flag leaves of field-grown wheat. By combining culture-based approaches with ITS amplicon sequencing over two consecutive years, the collection captured nearly half of the genus-level diversity present in the phyllosphere microbiome, including core yeast genera such as Aureobasidium, Dioszegia, Filobasidium, Papiliotrema, Sporobolomyces, and Vishniacozyma.
The team generated and analyzed 96 high-quality yeast genomes spanning 14 genera. Comparative genomic analyses revealed characteristic adaptive signatures linked to phyllosphere life, including enrichment of carbohydrate metabolism pathways, secondary metabolite biosynthesis, and pectin degradation. Notably, certain phyllosphere-associated genera, such as Candida and Metschnikowia, were found to possess substantially smaller genomes, suggesting niche specialization through prioritization of metabolic functions essential for survival in this nutrient-limited environment.
This publication is the result of an international research collaboration and includes contributions from our researcher Nelli Vardazaryan. In the first half of 2024, she completed a three-month research internship at the Faculty of Science, Biology Department of Utrecht University, working in the bioinformatics lab of Prof. Dr. B. Snel under the supervision of Dr. Chrats Melkonian.
The internship was supported by the Young Scientists Support Program.
Read the paper here.
