Flor yeast resistance to ethanol and acetaldehyde high contents

Abstract

In the elaboration of Sherry wines, flor yeast develops a biofilm on the wine surface after the alcoholic fermentation of grape which remains during the “biological aging” process. The aim of this study is to identify proteins that respond to high content of ethanol and acetaldehyde. A proteome analysis was carried for a flor yeast grown in a synthetic biological aging and in a reference fermentative condition. Further works dealing with genetics, and also utilization of different flor yeast strains could be considered and aimed to improve the quality of Sherry wines in a near future. 35 proteins were detected under the biological aging condition higher in abundance with respect to the reference condition related to ethanol resistance and 3 related to acetaldehyde resistance. This study together with genetic experiments may lead to the genetic improvement of flor yeast strains aimed to enhance the wine elaboration process.