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Designing and creating Saccharomyces interspecific hybrids for improved, industry relevant, phenotypes

Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology volume 99, pages 8597–8609 (2015)Cite this article

Abstract

To remain competitive in increasingly overcrowded markets, yeast strain development programmes are crucial for fermentation-based food and beverage industries. In a winemaking context, there are many yeast phenotypes that stand to be improved. For example, winemakers endeavouring to produce sweet dessert wines wrestle with fermentation challenges particular to fermenting high-sugar juices, which can lead to elevated volatile acidity levels and extended fermentation times. In the current study, we used natural yeast breeding techniques to generate Saccharomyces spp. interspecific hybrids as a non-genetically modified (GM) strategy to introduce targeted improvements in important, wine-relevant traits. The hybrids were generated by mating a robust wine strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae with a wine isolate of Saccharomyces bayanus, a species previously reported to produce wines with low concentrations of acetic acid. Two hybrids generated from the cross showed robust fermentation properties in high-sugar grape juice and produced botrytised Riesling wines with much lower concentrations of acetic acid relative to the industrial wine yeast parent. The hybrids also displayed suitability for icewine production when bench-marked against an industry standard icewine yeast, by delivering icewines with lower levels of acetic acid. Additionally, the hybrid yeast produced wines with novel aroma and flavour profiles and established that choice of yeast strain impacts on wine colour. These new hybrid yeasts display the desired targeted fermentation phenotypes from both parents, robust fermentation in high-sugar juice and the production of wines with low volatile acidity, thus establishing their suitability for wine styles that are traditionally troubled by excessive volatile acidity levels.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by Australia’s grapegrowers and winemakers through their investment body the Australian Grape and Wine Authority, with matching funds from the Australian Government. The AWRI is part of the Wine Innovation Cluster.

The icewine component of this research was financed by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

The authors would like to thank Jean-Michel Salmon (INRA, France) for his generous gift of tetraploid yeast strain 53–7 and Nick Van Holst Pellekaan for his assistance with the fluorescence flow cytometry analyses.

Funding

This study was funded by the Australian Grape and Wine Authority (project number AWR 1301) and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (Discovery grant number 238872).

Conflict of interest

The authors state that they have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Ethical statement

This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Australian Wine Research Institute, PO Box 197, Glen Osmond, SA, 506, Australia

    Jennifer R. Bellon, Martin P. Day & Paul J. Chambers

  2. Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute, Brock University, St Catharines, ON, Canada

    Fei Yang & Debra L. Inglis

Authors
  1. Jennifer R. Bellon
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  2. Fei Yang
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  3. Martin P. Day
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  4. Debra L. Inglis
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  5. Paul J. Chambers
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jennifer R. Bellon.

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Bellon, J.R., Yang, F., Day, M.P. et al. Designing and creating Saccharomyces interspecific hybrids for improved, industry relevant, phenotypes. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 99, 8597–8609 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-015-6737-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-015-6737-4

Keywords

  • Saccharomyces interspecific hybrids
  • Targeted wine yeast strain development
  • Non-genetically modified (non-GM)
  • High-sugar fermentation