Physiological characteristics and extracellular enzyme
activities
The isolates were grown at six temperatures (range 4 to
37°C). Almost 70% of the yeast isolates could grow at
22°C or higher, and generally grew optimally at 15°C
(38%) or 22°C (31%) (Table 2). These results were
accounted for in the physiological characterizations of
the strains. The isolates identified as Candida sake,
Wickerhamomyces anomalus and the four Mrakia species,
tested positive in glucose fermentation assays. The
yeast isolates were tested for the assimilation of 29 different
carbon sources (for the detailed results see Additional
file 3). Besides glucose, the yeasts primarily
consumed D-xylose, D-melezitose, D-saccharose, Dtrehalose
and 2-ketogluconate, while lactose, levulinic
acid and erythritol were less assimilated.