The search for new β-glucosidase from yeast sources is important to improve the quality of wines. In this work, an S. pararoseus yeast strain has shown to be capable to produce a β-glucosidase with suitable combination of properties for functionality in wines and with potential to increase the concentration of free aroma compounds, showing good prospects for an industrial application.

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Microbial β-glucosidases have been used for the enhancement of wine aroma. Nevertheless, few enzymes are active in the conditions of winemaking. In this work, the production of a β-glucosidase by an Aureobasidium pullulans strain (Ap-β-gl) isolated from grape ecosystems was evaluated. The maximum enzymatic synthesis using submerged fermentation was after 96 h of growth in complex media containing 20 g/L of cellobiose as the sole carbon source. The crude enzyme (Ap-β-gl) showed optimal pH at 5.5 and two peaks of optimum temperature (at 45 and 70 °C). It showed a wide range of pH stability, stability at low temperatures, and tolerance to ethanol, showing suitable characteristics for winemaking conditions. The hydrolysis of glycosidic terpenes by Ap-β-gl was studied, and its ability to efficiently release free terpenols was demonstrated by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. The enzymatic treatment notably increased the amount of monoterpenes, showing good prospects for its potential application for the development of aroma in wines.

Nineteen fungi and seven yeast strains were isolated from sugarcane bagasse piles from an alcohol plant located at Brazilian Cerrado and identified up to species level on the basis of the gene sequencing of 5.8S-ITS and 26S ribosomal DNA regions. Four species were identified: Kluyveromyces marxianus, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus sydowii and Aspergillus fumigatus, and the isolates were screened for the production of key enzymes in the saccharification of lignocellulosic material. Among them, three strains were selected as good producers of hemicellulolitic enzymes: A. niger (SBCM3), A. sydowii (SBCM7) and A. fumigatus (SBC4). The best β-xylosidase producer was A. niger SBCM3 strain. This crude enzyme presented optimal activity at pH 3.5 and 55 °C (141 U/g). For β-glucosidase and xylanase the best producer was A. fumigatus SBC4 strain, whose enzymes presented maximum activity at 60 °C and pH 3.5 (54 U/g) and 4.0 (573 U/g), respectively. All these crude enzymes presented stability around pH 3.0–8.0 and up to 60 °C, which can be very useful in industrial processes that work at high temperatures and low pHs. These enzymes also exhibited moderate tolerance to ethanol and the sugars glucose and xylose. These similar characteristics among these fungal crude enzymes suggest that they can be used synergistically in cocktails in future studies of biomass conversion with potential application in several biotechnological sectors.

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Traditional winemaking is carried out by spontaneous yeasts from the vineyard that persist throughout the alcoholic fermentation. This study examined the diversity of yeast species isolated from grape skin and musts of two varieties of Vitis labrusca from a vineyard in the southeast region of Brazil (Jales, São Paulo), which produces artisanal wines. Molecular identification was achieved by a combination of PCR-RFLP/sequencing of the internal transcribed spacers (ITS) and sequencing of the D1/D2 domain of ribosomal DNA. Eighty yeast samples were isolated from grapes and musts, and seven different species were identified. The diversity of species varied according to the grape variety. The most frequent species were Hanseniaspora uvarum with 28 isolates, followed by Issatchenkia occientalis with 19 isolates and Issatchenkia orientalis with 16 isolates. Other species with a lower number of isolates were: Issatchenkia terricola, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Aureobasidium pullulans and Sporidiobolus pararoseus. Our results showed that molecular identification is a very powerful identification method in which natural isolates of ascomycetous or basidiomycetous yeasts can be rapidly and reliably identified with better reproducibility and higher throughput than conventional phenotypic methods. This is the first report of the diversity of indigenous yeast species from a vineyard in Brazil.

An extracellular ethanol-tolerant β-glucosidase from Sporidiobolus pararoseus was purified to homogeneity and characterized, and its potential use for the enhancement of wine aroma was investigated. The crude enzymatic extract was purified in four steps (concentration, dialysis, ultrafiltration, and chromatography) with a yield of around 40 % for total activity. The purified enzyme (designated Sp-βgl-P) showed a specific activity of approximately 20.0 U/mg, an estimated molecular mass of 63 kDa after sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, and isoelectric point of 5.0 by isoelectric focusing. Sp-βgl-P has optimal activity at pH 4.0 and at 55 °C. It was stable in a broad pH range at low temperatures and it was tolerant to ethanol and glucose, indicating suitable properties for winemaking. The hydrolysis of glycosidic terpenes was analyzed by adding Sp-βgl-P directly to the wines. The released terpene compounds were evaluated by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. The enzymatic treatment significantly increased the amount of free terpenes, suggesting that this enzyme could potentially be applicable in wine aroma improvement.

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