A new paper exploring the importance of rare yeast species in wine fermentation performance
Sábado, 18-02-2023
A new paper exploring the importance of rare yeast species in wine fermentation performance

Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a highly fermentative species able to complete the wine fermentation. However, the interaction with other non-Saccharomyces yeasts can determine the fermentation performance of S. cerevisiae. We have characterised three rare non-Saccharomyces yeasts (Cyberlindnera fabianiiKazachstania unispora and Naganishia globosa), studying their impact on S. cerevisiae fitness and wine fermentation performance. Using a wide meta-taxonomic dataset of wine samples, we show that about a 65.07% of wine samples contains Naganishia spp., a 27.21% contains Kazachstania spp., and only a 4.41% contains Cyberlindnera spp; in all cases with average relative abundances lower than 1% of total fungal populations. Although the studied N. globosa strain showed a limited growth capacity in wine, both K. unispora and C. fabianii showed a similar growth phenotype to that of S. cerevisiae in different fermentation conditions, highlighting the outstanding growth rate values of K. unispora. In mixed fermentations with S. cerevisiae, the three yeast species affected co-culture growth parameters and wine chemical profile (volatile compounds, polysaccharides and proteins). K. unisporaDN201 strain presents an outstanding capacity to compete with S. cerevisiae strains during the first stage of wine fermentation, causing stuck fermentations in both synthetic and natural grape musts.