The patterns produced by nine enzymes of ballistosporogenous yeasts and supposedly related yeasts were studied by electrophoresis on polyacrylamide gel. Forty-two strains belonged to the genera Sporobolomyces, Sporidiobolus, Aessosporon and Bullera and twenty-four strains to Rhodotorula, Rhodosporidium, Cryptococcus, unidentified ballistosporogenous yeasts, and Candida edax.
Four Sporobolomyces salmonicolor strains, two Sporobolomyces holsaticus strains, two Sporobolomyces odorus strains, five Sporidiobolus salmonicolor strains, two Aessosporon salmonicolor strains, and one strain of Aessosporon dendrophilum produced similar electrophoretic patterns. Moreover, mating was observed between some of these strains. Sporobolomyces roseus and Sporobolomyces shibatanus differed from Sporobolomyces salmonicolor in their glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.49.), but the patterns of the other enzymes were similar; all three species differed clearly from Sporobolomyces singularis, Sporobolomyces gracilis, Sporobolomyces puniceus, and Sporobolomyces antarcticus. Sporobolomyces albo-rubescens showed a peculiar 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.41.) pattern and was similar to two Rhodotorula rubra strains in the pattern of their enzymes. Close relationships were also seen between Sporidiobolus ruinenii and Rhodotorula graminis, and between Bullera alba and a strain in Cryptococcus albidus var. albidus in the electrophoretic patterns of their enzymes. Four unidentified strains which had lost the ability to produce ballistospores had patterns similar to those of Bullera alba, Rhodotorula glutinis, Cryptococcus laurentii var. flavescens, and Cryptococcus macerans. Three colorless strains, putatively derived from a strain of Sporobolomyces roseus, showed the same electrophoretic patterns as the strains from which they originated.