Last 3rd November 2021, our PhD student Xiaolin Zhu has presented online from China her thesis "Microbiological non-GMO approaches for the reduction of ethanol in wines". Directors: Gemma Beltran, Yurena Navarro and Albert Mas. She has got the maximum qualification. Congratulations, new Doctor !!
Last Friday 15th October we have celebrated the monthly online meeting of Wine Biotechnology Research Group.
The last results of different projects have been discussed and our colleague Xiaolin Zhu (predoctoral researcher) has presented an assay of her PhD defence that will be next 3rd November.
RedBAL (Spanish Lactic Acid Bacteria network) has celebrated its 14th annual meeting, 8-10 September 2021. The program and book of abstracts is available here.
Our PhD student Candela Ruiz de Villa has successfully presented her work on screening of yeast strains in relation to malolactic fermentation.
Microbial interactions in alcoholic beverages (Review)
Rafael Torres-Guardado, Braulio Esteve-Zarzoso, Cristina Reguant, Albert Bordons
International Microbiology 2021 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10123-021-00200-1
This article is a review that examines the different types of interactions between the microorganisms involved in the fermentation processes of alcoholic beverages produced all over the world from cereals or fruit juices.
The alcoholic fermentation converting sugars into ethanol is usually carried out by yeasts, mainly Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which can grow directly using fruit sugars (wine, cider, and others), or on previously hydrolyzed starch of cereals (beers and others). Some of these beverages, or the worts from cereals, can be distilled to obtain spirits. Besides S. cerevisiae, all alcoholic beverages can contain other microorganisms, mostly lactic acid bacteria and other yeasts —the non-Saccharomyces yeasts—.
The interactions between all these microorganisms are very diverse and complex, as in any natural occurring ecosystem. The positive or negative effects of these interactions on the organoleptic qualities of the final product have been also revised. Focusing mainly on the alcoholic beverages produced by spontaneous fermentations, this paper reviews the interactions between the different yeasts and lactic acid bacteria in wine, cider, beer and in spirits such as tequila, mezcal and cachaça.
POSITION OFFER : one Trainee predoctoral researcher in our group, with Lactic acid bacteria research team. Click here.
Last Friday 9th July we have celebrated the monthly online meeting of Wine Biotechnology Research Group.
The last results of different projects have been discussed and our colleague Sandra Martín (predoctoral researcher) has presented her work carried out on design of microbial consortia for improving stability and bioactivity of wines.
1) Torulaspora delbrueckii promotes malolactic fermentation in high polyphenolic red wines
Aitor Balmaseda, Nicolas Rozès, Albert Bordons, Cristina Reguant *
LWT Food Sci Technol 2021, 148, 111777: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lwt.2021.111777
The interactions of Torulaspora delbrueckii and O. oeni in wines from grapes with different degrees of maturity were studied. The results showed higher total polyphenolic index (TPI) values in T. delbrueckii wines. Overall, the use of T. delbrueckii resulted in better MLF performances.
2) Simulated lees of different yeast species modify the performance of malolactic fermentation by Oenococcus oeni in wine-like medium
Aitor Balmaseda, Nicolas Rozès, Albert Bordons, Cristina Reguant *
Food Microbiology 2021, 99, 103839: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fm.2021.103839
This is the first study of MLF with different O. oeni strains in the presence of S. cerevisiae and non-Saccharomyces yeast lees. Non-Saccharomyces lees, especially from some strains of Torulaspora delbrueckii, showed higher compatibility with some O. oeni strains, with a shorter MLF and a maintained bacterial cell viability.
