Abstract
The occurrence of the killer character was studied in 840 Saccharomyces cerevisiae isolates at the end of spontaneous fermentations in four wine-producing regions of Greece, Mantinia and Nemea in Peloponnese and the islands Limnos and Santorini. The incidence of killer strains varied from one region to another. Sensitive and neutral strains were also found among the S. cerevisiae strains. Using the plate bioassay at pH 4.5 two different killer phenotypes were detected among the killer isolates which differed in their degree of killer activity. They were designated as SK (strong killer) and WK (weak killer). The proportion of SK to WK phenotypes differed from one area to another. All killer isolates were assayed for expression of killer activity also at pH 3.5. The lower pH decreased the killer activity of all isolates and changed the proportion of SK to WK phenotypes. The percentage of WK phenotypes increased in all cases and some killer isolates lost their killer activity completely, but generally the killer activity remained significant, especially in the area of Mantinia where the SK phenotype remained dominant at the low pH found in musts and wine.
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Kapsopoulou, K., Barouti, E., Makrioniti, A. et al. Occurrence of Saccharomyces cerevisiae killer yeasts in wine-producing areas of Greece. World J Microbiol Biotechnol 24, 1967–1971 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-008-9661-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-008-9661-2