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

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.

Glucose repression occurs in many yeast species and some filamentous fungi, and it represses the expression and secretion of many intracellular and extracellular proteins. In recent years, it has been found that many biochemical reactions in yeast cells are mediated by phosphatidylinositol (PI)-type signaling pathway. However, little is known about the relationships between PI-type signaling and glucose repression, gene expression and invertase secretion in yeasts. Many evidences in our previous studies showed that glucose repression, invertase secretion, gene expression and cell growth were mediated by inositol and PI in Saccharomyces and Schizosaccharomyces. The elucidation of the new regulatory mechanisms of protein secretion, gene expression and glucose repression would be an entirely new aspect of inositol and PI-type signaling regulation in yeasts.

UNESCO Chinese Center of Marine Biotechnology, Ocean University of China, Qiangdao 266003, P.R.China The terrestrial yeasts have been receiving great attention in science and industry for over one hundred years because they can produce many kinds of bioactive substances. However, little is known about the bioactive substances of marine yeasts. In recent years, it has been found that marine yeasts have wide applications in mariculture and other fields. Tive substances they produced are reviewed in this paper.

Total 427 yeast strains from seawater, sediments, mud of salterns, guts of the marine fish, and marine algae were obtained. After inulinase activity of the yeast cultures was estimated, we found that four strains (OUC1, G7a, OUC2, and G7a1) of the marine yeasts grown in the medium with inulin could secrete a large amount of inulinase into the medium. The results of routine identification and molecular methods show that they belong to Pichia guilliermondii OUC1, Cryptococcus aureus G7a, Yarrowia lipolytica OUC2, and Debaryomyces hansenii G7a1, respectively. The optimal pHs of inulinase activity produced by them were 6.0, 5.0, 5.0, and 5.0, respectively, while the optimal temperatures of inulinase activity produced by them were 60-, 50-, 60-, and 50-C, respectively. A large amount of monosaccharides and a trace amount of oligosaccharides were detected after the hydrolysis by the crude inulinase produced by P. guilliermondii OUC1, indicating that the crude inulinase had a high exoinulinase activity while a large amount of monosaccharides and oligosaccharides were detected after inulin hydrolysis by the crude inulinase produced both by C. aureus G7a and D. hansenii G7a1. However, no monosaccharides and disaccharides were detected after inulin hydrolysis by the crude inulinase produced by Y. lipolytica OUC2, suggesting that the crude inulinase had no exoinulinase activity.