Selection and molecular characterization of wine yeasts isolated from the 'El Penedes' area (Spain)

A study of the microbiota present during the wine fermentation of five grap e varieties from the 'El Penedes' area (Spain) was carried out to select ac ltochrhonous yeast strains for industrial wine production. in this study we identified members of the genera Candida, Dekkera, Hanseniaspora, Kluyvero myces, Torulaspora, Zygosaccharomyces and Saccharomyces in wine fermentatio n microbiota. Strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, as responsible agents of the alcoholic fermentation were considered for a selection protocol in thi s work we applied different enological criteria for selection, but previous ly we ha ve characterized and differentiated Saccharomyces isolates by mole cular methods to reduce the number of strains to analyse. Three strains wer e selected to conduct fermentations according to their characteristics Fina lly, using mitochondrial DNA restriction analysis we demonstrated that the autochthonous selected strains are important contributors to the wine ferme ntation. (C) 2000 Academic Press.