Characterization of Saccharomyces cerevisiae natural populations for pseudohyphal growth and colony morphology

In this work we have analyzed the colony and cellular morphologies of natural populations of Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains in response to different environmental stimuli. Among one thousand strains grown on YPD medium, 2.5% exhibited a rough (R) colony phenotype versus a smooth (S) phenotype. When grown on the ammonium-deficient medium SLAD, 56% of the strains showed a filamentous phenotype, often associated (43.8%) with an invasive phenotype, while 4.7% of the strains exhibited only an invasive phenotype. The rough phenotype on YPD was always associated with the filamentous phenotype on SLAD. A subset of 52 strains was further characterized for the growth phenotype under different stimuli (nitrogen deprivation, addition of alcohols, growth on proline as sole nitrogen source). On 27 strains, genetic analysis of the spore products was also performed. The entire set of data showed a wide distribution of dimorphism in the yeast population and great variability with respect to the dimorphic switch capability. Some strains grew with peculiar colony morphologies under different environmental stimuli and some showed colony morphology variations. Ecological implications of the wide spreading of dimorphic behavior and the occurrence of peculiar colony morphologies in natural yeasts are discussed.