Meira qingyuanensis sp. nov., an anamorphic yeast species isolated from plant leaves

Two yeast strains, NYNU 224191 and NYNU 22411, were isolated from plant leaves of <i>Cyclobalanopsis jenseniana</i> and <i>Schisandra</i> sp. harvested from Qingyuan Mountain, Quanzhou City, Fujian Province, southeast China. Molecular phylogenetic analyses demonstrated that these two strains represent a novel species in the genus <i>Meira</i>. They are more closely related to <i>M. marina</i>, <i>M. nashicola</i>, <i>M. plantarum</i> and <i>M. pileae</i> than other <i>Meira</i> species based on phylogenetic analysis of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region and the D1/D2 domain of the large subunit (LSU) rRNA gene. The novel species differed from its closest relatives, <i>M. marina</i>, <i>M. nashicola</i>, <i>M. plantarum</i> and <i>M. pileae</i>, by 1.8-2% sequence divergence (11-12 substitutions and 1-2 gaps) in the D1/D2 domain and over 6.7% sequence divergence (40-60 substitutions and 53-77 gaps) in the ITS region, respectively. We propose the name <i>Meira qingyuanensis</i> sp. nov. (Holotype CICC 33567; Mycobank MB 855328) for the new species, which differs phenotypically from <i>M. marina</i>, <i>M. plantarum</i> and <i>M. pileae</i> in its ability to assimilate methyl-<i>α</i>-d-glucoside and the inability to assimilate salicin, and from <i>M. nashicola</i> in its ability to assimilate nitrate and nitrite and grow at 30 °C.