Differential killer sensitivity as a tool for fingerprinting wine-yeast strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Abstract

The extreme variability of the killer phenomenon in nature, expressed differently in different strains of the same yeast species, embodies an exceptional potential for the discrimination of yeasts at the strain level. Killer-sensitive relationships between a killer reference panel of 24 yeasts belonging to 13 species of six genera, and different industrial wine-starters of Saccharomyces cerevisiae can be used profitably for a rapid and simple fingerprinting procedure. © 1996 Society for Industrial Microbiology.