Evolutionary Ecology of Marine Yeasts as Determined by Molecular Relatedness

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There is a considerable lack of knowledge of the role of marine microorganisms is biogeochemical cycling and other processes. This is due, in part, to inadequate information on the fundamental biology of these marine organisms. Recent advances in molecular biology have made tools available to answer a variety of basic questions. This research will examine the origin and phylogenetic relationships among marine yeasts. Preliminary investigations indicate that marine yeasts originated from terrestrial plant parasites, the heterobacidiomycetes, a group that includes such fungi as the rusts and smuts. Recent studies have shown that the heterobasidiomycetes are capable of producing free living yeasts stages that may be distributed by wing or land drainage. Our studies, based on phenotypic characteristics, suggests that many of the marine yeasts are evolved from, or are identical to, the yeasts stages of the plant parasites. However, molecular studies, based on nuclear DNA relatedness, have shown that comparisons based on phenotypic responses can be misleading because the genetic bases for many of thes criteria reside in only a few genes. We propose to determine the relationships between species of marine yeasts and the relationships of yeasts to terrestrial plant parasites through studies of molecular relatedness.