Comprehensive Review of Indigenous Yeast Species in Korea: A Literature and Culture Collection Analysis

Abstract

Indigenous yeasts in Korea have been actively studied since 1910 in light of various fields, including environment, food fermentation, brewing, and medicine. However, a complete list of indigenous yeast species has not been addressed or reported. In this study, a comprehensive analysis of the literature including yeast isolation from Korean materials and the strains preserved at culture collections was performed. The results of this study indicate the following: ⅰ) there are 128 genera and 681 species (including 26 variants) of yeast reported in Korea, ⅱ) the reported species were trimmed into 142 genera and 500 species (including 9 variants), ⅲ) among which only 166 species were registered in the National Species List of Korea (2020). Therefore, follow-up studies are required to register more indigenous yeast species in the National Species List of Korea.

Keywords

• culture collection
• indigenous yeast species
• national species list of korea