Taxonomy and phylogenetic diversity among the yeasts

Yeasts are among the economically and scientifically most important eukaryotic microorganisms known. At present, there are 1,500 recognized species, which are distributed between the ascomycetes and the basidiomycetes, but only a small fraction of these species have undergone extensive genetic analyses. In this chapter, we discuss application of molecular methods for identification of species and for their classification from phylogenetic analysis of gene sequences. The resulting phylogeny is considered in the context of comparative genomics and evolution, and provides a useful background for selection of additional species for whole genome sequencing as well as for new biotechnological applications.