The spoilage yeastZygosaccharomyces bailii: Foe or friend?

Abstract

Zygosaccharomyces bailii is a non-Saccharomyces budding yeast known as one of the most aggressive food spoilage microorganisms, often isolated as a contaminant during wine fermentation, as well as from many acidic, high-sugar and canned foods. The spoilage ability relies on the yeast's unique feature of tolerating the most common preservatives such as sulphite, dimethyl dicarbonate, acetic acid and sorbic acid. Therefore, many studies have focused on the description of this peculiar tolerance with the aim of developing preventative measures against Z. bailii food spoilage. These studies demonstrated the involvement of diverse molecular and physiological mechanisms in the yeast resistance, comprising detoxification of preservatives, adaptation of the cytoplasmic pH and modulation of the cell wall/membrane composition. At the same time, the described traits unveiled Z. bailii as a novel potential workhorse for industrial bioprocesses. Here we present the yeast Z. bailii starting from important aspects of its robustness and concluding with the exploitation of its potential in biotechnology. Overall, the article describes Z. bailii from different perspectives, converging in presenting it as one of the most interesting species of the Saccharomycotina subphylum. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Microbial composition of Kombucha determined using amplicon sequencing and shotgun metagenomics

“…bailii is a fermentative yeast with high tolerance to environmental stress conditions and is thus considered a food spoilage yeast by wine and beer producers (Kuanyshev, Adamo, Porro, & Branduardi, 2017;Steels, James, Bond, Roberts, & Stratford, 2002;Zuehlke, 2013). However, it has also been reported that this species has potential beneficial characteristics for fermented foods (Ciani, Comitini, Mannazzu, & Domizio, 2010;Jolly, Augustyn, & Pretorius, 2017;Kuanyshev et al, 2017;Xu, Zhi, Wu, Du, & Xu, 2017). Also, it is one of the most commonly reported yeast genera in Kombucha microbiome studies (Jayabalan et al, 2014;Marsh et al, 2014;Villarreal-Soto, Beaufort, Bouajila, Souchard, & Taillandier, 2018).…”

“…Also, it is one of the most commonly reported yeast genera in Kombucha microbiome studies (Jayabalan et al, 2014;Marsh et al, 2014;Villarreal-Soto, Beaufort, Bouajila, Souchard, & Taillandier, 2018). Despite the recent genomic-based studies, the role of Zygosaccharomyces in fermented foods and its potential effects have not yet been elucidated in detail (Kuanyshev et al, 2017). Interestingly, application of purified cellulase from Z. bailii to the tea production processes has been shown to improve tea quality by release of aroma compounds (Murugesan, Angayarkanni, & Swaminathan, 2002), suggesting this fungi could be important for Kombucha flavor.…”

Transcriptional Response to Lactic Acid Stress in the Hybrid Yeast Zygosaccharomyces parabailii

“…Therefore, on the one hand, these yeasts represent a challenging problem in the food industry because they are often found as contaminants in production pipelines for wine, high-sugar products, and canned foods. On the other hand, they are promising cell factories for biotechnological applications involving organic acids that can be produced by microbial fermentation ( 3 , 4 ) or released by lignocellulosic pretreatment of biomass ( 5 ).…”

Genome-scale metabolic reconstruction of the stress-tolerant hybrid yeast Zygosaccharomyces parabailii

“…In this regard, species in the Z. bailii sensu lato clade are known for their exceptional tolerance to different types of stress. In the case of Z. bailii, high tolerance to low pH and weak acids make these yeasts notorious as frequent agents of food spoilage [22,23]. However, the same tolerance traits can also be seen as beneficial for the microbial-based production of otherwise aggressive compounds such as lactic acid [24].…”

“…In this regard, species in the Z. bailii sensu lato clade are known for their exceptional tolerance to different types of stress. In the case of Z. bailii, high tolerance to low pH and weak acids make these yeasts notorious as frequent agents of food spoilage [22,23]. However, the same tolerance traits can also be seen as beneficial for the microbial-based production of otherwise aggressive compounds such as lactic acid [24].Here, we present the first genome-scale model reconstruction and analysis of Zygosaccharomyces parabailii, which is one of the 3 species described in the Z. bailii sensu lato clade and one of the 12 formally described species in the Zygosaccharomyces genus [25,26].This work is based on our recent genome assembly and annotation, which we have improved by producing functional annotations and used to obtain transcriptional profiles upon lactic acid stress [27].…”