RT Journal Article SR Electronic(1) A1 Tittarelli, Fabrizia A1 Varela, Javier A. A1 Gethins, Loughlin A1 Stanton, Catherine A1 Ross, R.P. A1 Suzzi, Giovanna A1 Grazia, Luigi A1 Tofalo, Rosanna A1 Morrissey, John P.YR 2018 T1 Development and implementation of multilocus sequence typing to study the diversity of the yeast Kluyveromyces marxianus in Italian cheeses JF Microbial Genomics, VO 4 IS 2 OP SP e000153 DO https://doi.org/10.1099/mgen.0.000153 PB Microbiology Society, SN 2057-5858, AB The yeast Kluyveromyces marxianus possesses advantageous traits like rapid growth, GRAS (generally regarded as safe) status and thermotolerance that make it very suitable for diverse biotechnological applications. Although physiological studies demonstrate wide phenotypic variation within the species, there is only limited information available on the genetic diversity of K. marxianus. The aim of this work was to develop a multilocus sequence typing (MLST) method for K. marxianus to improve strain classification and selection. Analysis of housekeeping genes in a number of sequenced strains led to the selection of five genes, IPP1, TFC1, GPH1, GSY2 and SGA1, with sufficient polymorphic sites to allow MLST analysis. These loci were sequenced in an additional 76 strains and used to develop the MLST. This revealed wide diversity in the species and separation of the culture collection and wild strains into multiple distinct clades. Two subsets of strains that shared sources of origin were subjected to MLST and split decomposition analysis. The latter revealed evidence of recombination, indicating that this yeast undergoes mating in the wild. A public access web-based portal was established to allow expansion of the database and application of MLST to additional K. marxianus strains. This will aid understanding of the genetic diversity of the yeast and facilitate biotechnological exploitation., UL https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/mgen/10.1099/mgen.0.000153