The spoilage yeast Zygosaccharomyces bailii: foe or friend?

Abstract Zygosaccharomyces bailii is a non‐Saccharomyces budding yeast known as one of the most aggressive food spoilage microorganism, often isolated as contaminant during wine fermentation, as well as from many acidic, high sugar and canned foods. The spoilage ability relies on the yeast's unique feature to tolerate the most common preservatives such as sulfite, dimethyl dicarbonate, acetic acid, and sorbic acid. Therefore, many studies focused on the description of this peculiar tolerance with the aim of developing preventative measures against Z. bailii food spoilage. These studies demonstrated the involvement of diverse molecular and physiological mechanisms in the yeast resistance, comprising detoxification of preservatives, adaptation of the cytoplasmic pH and modulation of the cell wall/membrane composition. At the same time, the described traits unveiled Z. bailii as a novel potential workhorse for industrial bioprocesses. Here we present the yeast Z. bailii starting from important aspects of its robustness, and concluding with the exploitation of its potential in biotechnology. Overall, the article describes Z. bailii from different perspectives, converging in presenting it as one of the interesting species of the Saccharomycotina subphylum.
Source: Yeast - Category: Molecular Biology Authors: Tags: Yeast Primer Source Type: research