A yeast strain, Aureobasidium pullulans, which could produce the high yield of protease was isolated from sediment of saltern in Qingdao, China. Maximum production of enzyme (623.1 U/mg protein; 7.2U/ml) was obtained in a medium containing 2.5 g soluble starch and 2.0 g NaNO3, 100ml seawater, initial pH 6.0, after fermentation at 24.5℃ for 30 h. The protease had the highest activity at pH 9.0 and 45℃.

Cyanothece sp. 113, a unicellular, aerobic, diazotrophic and photosynthetic marine cyanobacterium, produced 22.34 g/l of exopolysaccharidein 11 days at 29℃, aeration rate of 7.0 l/min and continuous illumination with 4300 lux. After purification, the spectra of UV, IR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR and GC–MS analysis showed that the purified exopolysaccharide was a-D-1,6-homoglucan. This is first report describing linear a-D-1,6-homoglucan exopolysaccharide produced by marine cyanobacteria.

Yeast strain Y68, producing a large amount of pullulan, was isolated from the leaves collected in the south of China. This strain was identified to be Rhodotorula bacarum by BIOLOG analysis and routine yeast identification. This is the first time to report that pullulan was produced by R. bacarum. The optimal medium for pullulan production by this strain was 8.0% (w/v) glucose, 2.0% (w/v) soybean cake hydrolysate, 0.5% (w/v) K2HPO4, 0.1% (w/v) NaCl, 0.02% (w/v) MgSO4·7H2O, 0.06% (w/v) (NH4)2SO4, pH 7.0. The optimal cultivation conditions for pullulan production by this strain in 300-ml shake flask containing 50 ml of medium were observed at 28℃ and with 180 rpm. Under these conditions, 5.9% (w/v) pullulan was produced within 60 h. This was the highest pullulan yield produced by yeasts obtained so far. No pigment in the medium was observed during the fermentation, suggesting that strain Y68 was a non-pigmented yeast strain.

The marine yeast strain G7a isolated from sediment of China South Sea was found to secrete a large amount of inulinase into the medium. This marine yeast strain was identified to be a strain of Cryptococcus aureus according to the results of routine yeast identification and molecular methods. The crude inulinase produced by this marine yeast showed the highest activity at pH 5.0 and 50 8C. The optimal medium for inulinase production was artificial seawater containing inulin 4.0% (w/v), K2HPO4 0.3% (w/v), yeast extract 0.5% (w/v), KCl 0.5% (w/v), CaCl2 0.12% (w/v), NaCl 4.0% (w/v) and MgCl2

Trehalose accumulation from starch by Saccharomycopsis fibuligera sdu was examined in 300-ml shaken flask culture and Biostat B2 2-1 fermentation. In the 300-ml flask, 16.5% (w/w) trehalose accumulated in the yeast cells (cell dry weight) was observed with 100-ml medium shaken at 200 rpm for 50 h at 30