Abstract
The continuous usage of single Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains as starter cultures in fermentation led to the domestication and propagation of highly specialized strains in fermentation, resulting in the standardization of wines and beers. In this way, hundreds of commercial strains have been developed to satisfy producers’ and consumers’ demands, including beverages with high/low ethanol content, nutrient deprivation tolerance, diverse aromatic profiles, and fast fermentations. However, studies in the last 20 years have demonstrated that the genetic and phenotypic diversity in commercial S. cerevisiae strains is low. This lack of diversity limits alternative wines and beers, stressing the need to explore new genetic resources to differentiate each fermentation product. In this sense, wild strains harbor a higher than thought genetic and phenotypic diversity, representing a feasible option to generate new fermentative beverages. Numerous recent studies have identified alleles in wild strains that could favor phenotypes of interest, such as nitrogen consumption, tolerance to cold or high temperatures, and the production of metabolites, such as glycerol and aroma compounds. Here, we review the recent literature on the use of commercial and wild S. cerevisiae strains in wine and beer fermentation, providing molecular evidence of the advantages of using wild strains for the generation of improved genetic stocks for the industry according to the product style.
Highlights
Humans have mass-produced food and alcoholic beverages using fermentative yeasts, of which wine and beer are the best-known products derived from this process (Steensels and Verstrepen, 2014; Legras et al, 2018; Parapouli et al, 2020)
Yeasts are naturally present in fermentation raw materials, such as grape musts and cereals, representing a fraction of the natural microbiota of these carbon-rich environments
We highlight the genetic and phenotypic diversity in native and wild strains, providing strategies to improve these genetic stocks for beer and wine fermentations
Summary
Humans have mass-produced food and alcoholic beverages using fermentative yeasts, of which wine and beer are the best-known products derived from this process (Steensels and Verstrepen, 2014; Legras et al, 2018; Parapouli et al, 2020). The current set of commercial S. cerevisiae strains and its derived hybrids is insufficient to provide novel properties to beer and wine, stressing the need for new and improved strains for the industry (Aquilani et al, 2015; Alperstein et al, 2020; Gibson et al, 2020).
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