Application of molecular biotechnologies in identification of yeasts

Trad itionally,the strain and species identification of yeasts is based on their morphological traits,especially their physiological and biochemical ones. These characteristics are strongly influenced by culture conditions and usually result in uncertain identification results. In recent years,the application of molecular biotechnologies in the strain and species identification of yeasts has advanced rapidly. In this review,the mechanisms and methods of several molecular biotechnologies were introduced, including G+C molar percentage of DNA,karyotype analysis by pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE),random amplified polymorphic DNA,restriction fragments length polymorphism,DNA sequence analysis and DNA-DNA hybridization. Moreover, the current situations,perspectives and limitations of applying these molecular biotechnologies to identify yeast strains were pointed out.