Primer for identification of yeast (ITS or 18Sr RNA gene) - (Jul/03/2012 )

Hi all,

I would like to identify yeast from fermented beverages and not sure should i use 18S rRNA gene or ITS or both? What is the primer sequence is good for the identification purposes?

Regards,
Lacto

I think most people use 16s rather than 18s...

Incidentally in most of the western world the yeast will be Saccharomyces cerevisiae (brewer's/baker's yeast).

Yeast is actually eukaryotic organimsms which does not has the 16S rRNA gene. The variability of 18S rRNA gene is always not sufficient for a good identification of fungus, ITS region will provide a better means for identification. But i am not sure can i omit 18S rRNA gene and only sequence the ITS region.

The yeast i mean here is not restricted to Saccharomyces cerevisiae, it can be Candida, Pichia, Kluyveromyces and etc....

Of course, silly me, wasn't thinking at all.

I think you should probably do both, the 18s will give you identification down to genus level and then the ITS can be used further to identify the species and subtypes, if I recall my stuff about ITS regions correctly (inferring from plants here).