Cyberlindnera hibernica sp. nov. and Barnettozyma discipulorum sp. nov., isolated from forest soil in Ireland

Two yeast strains, PYCC 10015 and PYCC 10016, were isolated from soil from an Irish forest. Sequence analysis of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region (ITS1-5.8S-ITS2) of the rRNA gene repeat, and the D1/D2 domain of the LSU rRNA gene, showed that they belong to the <i>Cyberlindnera</i> and <i>Barnettozyma</i> genera of the order <i>Phaffomycetales</i>, but they did not exactly match any known species. The genomes of both isolates were sequenced using Oxford Nanopore Technologies and Illumina sequencing, generating chromosome-level genome assemblies. Phylogenomic analysis of 1,385 single-copy orthologues from 37 <i>Phaffomycetales</i> species and 2 outgroups showed that the closest relative of PYCC 10015 is <i>Cyberlindnera galapagoensis</i> and that PYCC 10016 is placed in a subclade containing 7 other species from the <i>Barnettozyma</i> genus. The average nucleotide identity between these strains and their closest relatives is <75%, supporting their designation as novel species. Here, we propose the names <i>Cyberlindnera hibernica</i> sp. nov. and <i>Barnettozyma discipulorum</i> sp. nov. for PYCC 10015 and PYCC 10016, respectively.