ABSTRACT
It was found that plant storage tissues (fleshy sugar-containing fruits, subsurface metamorphically altered plant organs (storage roots, tubers, etc.), and starch-containing seed lobes) nearly always contain yeasts that are able to actively reproduce in these tissues causing no visible damage. Within storage tissues, yeast cells were detected both in the intercellular space and inside plant cells. In the tissues of fleshy fruits, endophytic yeasts are represented by the same species as epiphytic ones; cryptococci of the order Filobasidiales and ascomycetes belonging to the genera Hanseniaspora and Metschnikowia are predominant. In subsurface plant organs, red pigmented basidiomycetous yeasts of the genus Rhodotorula prevail. Selective growth of representatives of one species, Candida railenensis, is typical of starch-containing storage tissues of seeds. The results obtained change the established notion of the distributional patterns of yeast fungi in natural habitats and suggest that internal storage tissues of plants can be considered as a new interesting model for studies ofcoevolving plant-microbial associations.