RAPID IDENTIFICATION OF WINE YEAST SPECIES BASED ON RFLP ANALYSIS OF THE RIBOSOMAL INTERNAL TRANSCRIBED SPACER (ITS) REGION

In this study, we identified a total of 33 wine yeast species and stra ins using the restriction patterns generated from the region spanning the internal transcribed spacers (ITS 1 and 2) and the 5.8S rRNA gene. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products of this rDNA region showed a high length variation for the different species. The size of the PCR products and the restriction analyses with three restriction endonucle ases (HinfI, CfoI, and Haem) yielded a specific restriction pattern fo r each species with the exception of the corresponding anamorph and te leomorph states, which presented identical patterns. This method was a pplied to analyze the diversity of wine yeast species during spontaneo us wine fermentation.