Fungalpedia – Note 3301, Novakomycetes
Novakomycetes Dlauchy, G. Péter & Čadež, Microorganisms 9 (2, no. 301): 14 (2021).
Citation when using this data: Wijayawardene NN et al. 2024 – Fungalpedia.
Index Fungorum, Faceoffungi, MycoBank, GenBank, Fig 1.
Classification: Taphrinomycotina, Ascomycota, Dikarya, Fungi.
Sexual reproduction: Ascomata absent. Asci unconjugated or formed by heterogamous conjugation, one- or two-spored, ellipsoid, deliquescent. Ascospores subspheroid or ellipsoid, aseptate. Asexual reproduction: White to cream coloured yeast colonies formed by budding cells. Two layered cell walls, enteroblastic budding, solitary, aseptate blastoconidia. Pseudohyphae and true hyphae absent.
Life mode and distribution: Budding yeast originating from olive oil in Spain.
Notes: The class Novakomycetes was introduced by Čadež et al. (2021). Currently, it is the smallest among the six classes assigned to the subphylum Taphrinomycotina (Wijayawardene et al. 2022a). According to phylogenomic analyses, Novakomycetes is closely related to Schizosaccharomycetes comprising fission yeasts (Čadež et al. 2021). The class includes a hierarchic chain of monotypic taxa: Novakomycetales, Novakomycetaceae and Novakomyces erected to accommodate the species Novakomyces olei (Čadež et al. 2021).
The single species assigned to Novakomycetes is budding yeast originating from olive oil; however, it may be allochthonous in this habitat, as no additional report of its occurrence has been published (Čadež et al. 2021; Zullo and Ciafardini 2022).
Type order: Novakomycetales Dlauchy, G. Péter & Čadež, in Čadež, Dlauchy, Tome & Péter, Microorganisms 9(2, no. 301): 14 (2021).
Type family: Novakomycetaceae Dlauchy, G. Péter & Čadež, in Čadež, Dlauchy, Tome & Péter, Microorganisms 9(2, no. 301): 14 (2021).
Type genus: Novakomyces Dlauchy, G. Péter & Čadež, Microorganisms 9 (2, no. 301): 14 (2021).
Type species: Novakomyces olei Dlauchy, G. Péter & Čadež, in Čadež, Dlauchy, Tome & Péter, Microorganisms 9(2, no. 301): 14 (2021).
Other accepted species: Species Fungorum – search Novakomycetes.
Figure 1 – Micromorphological characters of Novakomyces olei (from Čadež et al. 2021). a Budding cell of Novakomyces olei. Collarette surrounding the forming bud is indicated by arrows. b Ascosporulating culture of Novakomyces olei. The remnant of an ascus formed by heterogamous conjugation is indicated by arrow. Scale bars: a = 1 μm, b = 10 μm (The image ‘a’ was taken by Bence Rácz).
References
Entry by
Nalin N. Wijayawardene, Center for Yunnan Plateau Biological Resources Protection and Utilization, College of Biological Resource and Food Engineering, Qujing Normal University, Qujing, Yunnan 655011, P.R. China, Tropical Microbiology Research Foundation, 96/N/10, Meemanagoda Road, 10230 Pannipitiya, Sri Lanka, Department of Bioprocess Technology, Faculty of Technology, Rajarata University, Sri Lanka
Published online 29 September 2026