Isolation and Identification of Yeasts from Wild Flowers Collected around Jangseong Lake in Jeollanam-do, Republic of Korea, and Characterization of the Unrecorded Yeast Bullera coprosmaensis

Several types of yeasts were isolated from wild flowers around Jangseong Lake in Jeollanam-do, Republic of Korea and identified by comparing the nucleotide sequences of the PCR amplicons for the D1/D2 variable domain of the 26S ribosomal DNA using Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) analysis. In total, 60 strains from 18 species were isolated, and Pseudozyma spp. (27 strains), which included Pseudozyma rugulosa (7 strains) and Pseudozyma aphidis (6 strains), was dominant species. Among the 60 strains, Bullera coprosmaensis JS00600 represented a newly recorded yeast strain in Korea, and its microbiological characteristics were investigated. The yeast cell has an oval-shaped morphology measuring 1.4 x 1.7 microm in size. Bullera coprosmaensis JS00600 is an asporous yeast that exhibits no pseudomycelium formation. It grew well in vitamin-free medium as well as in yeast extract-malt extract broth and yeast extract-peptone-dextrose (YPD) broth, and it is halotolerant growing in 10% NaCl-containing YPD broth.

Characterization of an Anti-gout Xanthine Oxidase Inhibitor from Pleurotus ostreatus

We selected Pleurotus ostreatus from among several edible mushrooms because it has high anti-gout xanthine oxidase (XOD) inhibitory activity. The maximal amount of XOD inhibitor was extracted when the Pleurotus ostreatus fruiting body was treated with distilled water at 40degrees C for 48 hr. The XOD inhibitor thus obtained was purified by Sephadex G-50 gel permeation chromatography, ultrafiltration, C18 solid phase extraction chromatography and reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography with 3% of solid yield, and its XOD inhibitory activity was 0.9 mg/mL of IC50. The purified XOD inhibitor was a tripeptide with the amino acid sequence phenylalanine-cysteine-histidine and a molecular weight of 441.3 Da. The XOD inhibitor-containing ultrafiltrates from Pleurotus ostreatus demonstrated dose-dependent anti-gout effects in a Sprague-Dawley rat model of potassium oxonate-induced gout, as shown by decreased serum urated levels at doses of 500 and 1,000 mg/kg, although the effect was not as great as that achieved with the commercial anti-gout agent, allopurinol when administered at a dose of 50 mg/kg.

Microbiological Characteristics and Physiological Functionality of New Records of Yeasts from Wild Flowers in Yokjido, Korea

Two new yeast records, Cryptococcus adeliensis YJ19-2 and Cryptococcus uzbekistanensis YJ10-4 were screened from 60 yeasts strains that were isolated and identified from wild flowers in Yokjido, Gyeongsangnam-do, Korea. The morphological and cultural characteristics of the newly recorded yeasts and the physiological functionalities of the supernatants and cell-free extracts obtained from their cultures were investigated. The two newly recorded yeasts did not form ascospores and pseudomycelia. They also grew well in yeast extract-peptone-dextrose broth. C. uzbekistanensis YJ10-4 grew in a vitamin-free medium and was also tolerant to sugar and salt. Antihypertensive angiotensin I-converting enzyme inhibitory activity of the supernatant from C. adeliensis YJ19-2 was high (71.8%) and its cell-free extract also showed very high (81.2%) antidiabetic a-glucosidase inhibitory activity.