was carried out.
More than 75%
of the obtained isolates were
characterized as
oleaginous
according to
Li el al.
[4],
since they were capable of
yielding lipid content
higher than 20%
on their dry weight,
These results
confirm the wide distribution of these microorganisms as stated by Rossi et al.
[19].
Moreover, two of the psycrotrophic isolates from Antarctica resulted oleaginous. This finding was not surprising since the presence of oleaginous yeasts and molds in extreme cold environments like the Tibetian plateau has already been reported
[20].
Although many of the isolates
were characterized as oleaginous, only four isolates were able to accumulate a significantly higher amount of intracellular lipids, with levels exceeding the 40% of cell dry weight. One of them, was identified as Rhodotorula graminis, which has been already recognized as an oleaginous species
[21].
However, the other three isolates belong to species, which have not been reported as oleaginous before. In fact, this work constitutes the first report of Cryptococcus phenolicus, Cystofilobasidium infirmominiatum and Leucosporidium scottii as oleaginous species.