A survey of Saccharomyces populations associated with wine fermentations from the Apulia region (South Italy)

Abstract

The aim of this paper was to investigate the genetic and phenotypic characteristics of yeasts isolated from samples of grape musts collected from four different areas of Apulia region. The 68 yeast isolates were identified as Saccharomyces cerevisiae by PCR-RFLP of 5.8S-ITS region of the rRNA gene. Individual isolates were differentiated by RAPD-PCR and AFLP. The following oenological traits were studied: fermentation power, resistance to cycloheximide, alcohol and SO2, formation of SO2 and H2S, β-glucosidase activity, and production of biogenic amines and secondary compounds. Many phenotypes were common to several yeasts iso-lated from the four different areas, such as high SO2 resistance and fermentation power. In addition, some S. cerevisiae isolates showed a β-glucosidase activity and others had a high resistance to cycloheximide. All the strains formed biogenic amines. Solid Phase Microextraction was used to determine secondary compounds produced in wine by the single yeast cultures.