202 research outputs found
Genetic and Physiological Characterisation of Oenococcus oeni Strains to Perform Malolactic Fermentation in Wines
Malolactic fermentation (MLF) is a process that is increasingly conducted by Oenococcus oeni industrial strains.Recently, studies of the diversity of O. oeni strains have developed some potential genetic tools to characterise theabilities of the strains. During this work, a mutation on a partial sequence of the rpoB gene and the presence ofsome genes previously established to be present in the most performing strains were tested on some strains thatare already marketed and some potential new strains. These tests were compared with a physiological test neverpreviously taken into account: the tolerance to octanoic and decanoic acid, important inhibitory compounds in wines.Our objectives were to compare the relevance of the genetic tests currently available, that of resistance to mediumchain fatty acids and the results of winemaking. Ultimately, it is clear that, as far as current knowledge is concerned,genetic tests are not yet sufficient to completely characterise the strain potential, and physiological tests thereforeare always needed. The resistance to medium chain fatty acids is an interesting point to be considered to explain thedifficulty that some strains have to resist inoculation in wine. But other criteria should also be characterised better,such as the duration of the latent phase between inoculation and the beginning of MLF, and the rate of degradationof malic acid by the different strains
Granular Flows in a Rotating Drum: the Scaling Law between Velocity and Thickness of the Flow
The flow of dry granular material in a half-filled rotating drum is studied.
The thickness of the flowing zone is measured for several rotation speeds, drum
sizes and beads sizes (size ratio between drum and beads ranging from 47 to
7400). Varying the rotation speed, a scaling law linking mean velocity vs
thickness of the flow, , is deduced for each couple (beads, drum).
The obtained exponent is not always equal to 1, value previously reported
in a drum, but varies with the geometry of the system. For small size ratios,
exponents higher than 1 are obtained due to a saturation of the flowing zone
thickness. The exponent of the power law decreases with the size ratio, leading
to exponents lower than 1 for high size ratios. These exponents imply that the
velocity gradient of a dry granular flow in a rotating drum is not constant.
More fundamentally, these results show that the flow of a granular material in
a rotating drum is very sensible to the geometry, and that the deduction of the
``rheology'' of a granular medium flowing in such a geometry is not obvious
Short-time dynamics of a packing of polyhedral grains under horizontal vibrations
We analyze the dynamics of a 3D granular packing composed of particles of
irregular polyhedral shape confined inside a rectangular box with a retaining
wall sub jected to horizontal harmonic forcing. The simulations are performed
by means of the contact dynamics method for a broad set of loading parameters.
We explore the vibrational dynamics of the packing, the evolution of solid
fraction and the scaling of dy- namics with the loading parameters. We show
that the motion of the retaining wall is strongly anharmonic as a result of
jamming and grain rearrangements. It is found that the mean particle
displacement scales with inverse square of frequency, the inverse of the force
amplitude and the square of gravity. The short- time compaction rate grows in
proportion to frequency up to a characteristic frequency, corresponding to
collective particle rearrangements between equilibrium states, and then it
declines in inverse proportion to frequency
Yeasts and wine off-flavours: a technological perspective
Review article. Part of the special issue "Wine microbiology and safety: from the vineyard to the bottle (Microsafety Wine)", 19-20 Nov. 2009, ItalyIn wine production, yeasts have both beneficial
and detrimental activities. Saccharomyces cerevisiae is the
yeast mainly responsible for turning grape juice into wine
but this species and several others may also show
undesirable effects in wines. Among such effects, technologists
are particularly concerned with the production of offflavours
that may occur during all stages of winemaking.
Typical spoiling activities include the production of ethyl
acetate by apiculate yeasts before fermentation, hydrogen
sulphide by S. cerevisiae during fermentation phases,
acetaldehyde by film-forming yeasts during bulk storage,
and volatile phenols by Dekkera bruxellensis during storage
or after bottling. The occurrence of these hazards depends
on the technological operations designed to obtain a given
type of wine and most can be avoided by current preventive
or curative measures. On the contrary, good manufacturing
practices must be strengthened to deal with the problem of
volatile phenol production in red wines. Appropriate
monitoring of D. bruxellensis populations and quantification
of 4-ethylphenol is advised during storage, particularly
when oak barrels are used, and absence of viable cells must
be guaranteed in bottled wines. This work, which is based
on our experience at winery level, aims to provide
information on appropriate technological strategies to deal
with the problem of off-flavours produced by yeasts
Oenological characterisation of indigenous strains of S. cerevisiae isolated in a biodynamic winery in the Cortona DOC area
Genotypic and technological characterisation of the S. cerevisiae population isolated in a biodynamic winery in the Cortona DOC area was performed to gain better knowledge of the variables that influence winemaking. The oenological performance of 11 S. cerevisiae strains was evaluated with physiological tests; strain typing was performed through analysis of interdelta sequences and 26S rDNA sequencing. The analysis revealed a remarkable variability in terms of S. cerevisiae strains, despite the homogeneity of wine features, underlining the high levels of biodiversity characterising biodynamic agriculture. Some strains were found in wines of different vintages, suggesting the presence of an established microbiota in the winery. Oenological tests demonstrated that while some yeasts provided reliable oenological performance, other strains were not able to accomplish prompt and effective alcoholic fermentation, or were characterised by spoilage characteristics, such as excessive production of volatile phenols or acetic acid. Indigenous strains of S. cerevisiae could be a useful instrument for reliable winemaking without altering the native microbiota of each oenological environment. However, characterisation of their oenological suitability, and the application of practices able to drive the evolution of microbiota, must be employed to reduce the risk of wine spoilage
Ascomycetous yeast species recovered from grapes damaged by honeydew and sour rot
Aims: To identify ascomycetous yeasts recovered from sound and damaged
grapes by the presence of honeydew or sour rot.
Methods and Results: In sound grapes, the mean yeast counts ranged from
3.20 ± 1.04 log CFU g-1 to 5.87 ± 0.64 log CFU g-1. In honeydew grapes, the
mean counts ranged from 3.88 ± 0.80 log CFU g-1 to 6.64 ± 0.77 log CFU g-1.
In sour rot grapes counts varied between 6.34 ± 1.03 and 7.68 ± 0.38 log
CFU g-1. Hanseniaspora uvarum was the most frequent species from sound
samples. In both types of damage, the most frequent species were Candida vanderwaltii,
H. uvarum and Zygoascus hellenicus. The latter species was recovered
in high frequency because of the utilization of the selective medium DBDM
(Dekkera ⁄ Brettanomyces differential medium). The scarce isolation frequency of
the wine spoilage species Zygosaccharomyces bailii (in sour rotten grapes) and
Zygosaccharomyces bisporus (in honeydew affected grapes) could only be
demonstrated by the use of the selective medium ZDM (Zygosaccharomyces
differential medium).
Conclusions: The isolation of several species only from damaged grapes indicates
that damage constituted the main factor determining yeast diversity. The
utilization of selective media is required for eliciting the recovery of potentially
wine spoilage species.
Significance and Impact of the Study: The impact of damaged grapes in the yeast ecology of grapes has been underestimate
Next-Generation Sequencing Reveals Significant Bacterial Diversity of Botrytized Wine
While wine fermentation has long been known to involve complex microbial communities, the composition and role of bacteria other than a select set of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) has often been assumed either negligible or detrimental. This study served as a pilot study for using barcoded amplicon next-generation sequencing to profile bacterial community structure in wines and grape musts, comparing the taxonomic depth achieved by sequencing two different domains of prokaryotic 16S rDNA (V4 and V5). This study was designed to serve two goals: 1) to empirically determine the most taxonomically informative 16S rDNA target region for barcoded amplicon sequencing of wine, comparing V4 and V5 domains of bacterial 16S rDNA to terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (TRFLP) of LAB communities; and 2) to explore the bacterial communities of wine fermentation to better understand the biodiversity of wine at a depth previously unattainable using other techniques. Analysis of amplicons from the V4 and V5 provided similar views of the bacterial communities of botrytized wine fermentations, revealing a broad diversity of low-abundance taxa not traditionally associated with wine, as well as atypical LAB communities initially detected by TRFLP. The V4 domain was determined as the more suitable read for wine ecology studies, as it provided greater taxonomic depth for profiling LAB communities. In addition, targeted enrichment was used to isolate two species of Alphaproteobacteria from a finished fermentation. Significant differences in diversity between inoculated and uninoculated samples suggest that Saccharomyces inoculation exerts selective pressure on bacterial diversity in these fermentations, most notably suppressing abundance of acetic acid bacteria. These results determine the bacterial diversity of botrytized wines to be far higher than previously realized, providing further insight into the fermentation dynamics of these wines, and demonstrate the utility of next-generation sequencing for wine ecology studies
Complexity and dynamics of the winemaking bacterial communities in berries, musts, and wines from apulian grape cultivars through time and space
Currently, there is very little information available regarding the microbiome associated with the wine production chain. Here, we used an amplicon sequencing approach based on high-throughput sequencing (HTS) to obtain a comprehensive assessment of the bacterial community associated with the production of three Apulian red wines, from grape to final product. The relationships among grape variety, the microbial community, and fermentation was investigated. Moreover, the winery microbiota was evaluated compared to the autochthonous species in vineyards that persist until the end of the winemaking process. The analysis highlighted the remarkable dynamics within the microbial communities during fermentation. A common microbial core shared among the examined wine varieties was observed, and the unique taxonomic signature of each wine appellation was revealed. New species belonging to the genus Halomonas were also reported. This study demonstrates the potential of this metagenomic approach, supported by optimized protocols, for identifying the biodiversity of the wine supply chain. The developed experimental pipeline offers new prospects for other research fields in which a comprehensive view of microbial community complexity and dynamics is desirable.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version
Parallel evolution of the make–accumulate–consume strategy in Saccharomyces and Dekkera yeasts
Saccharomyces yeasts degrade sugars to two-carbon components, in particular ethanol, even in the presence of excess oxygen. This characteristic is called the Crabtree effect and is the background for the 'make–accumulate–consume' life strategy, which in natural habitats helps Saccharomyces yeasts to out-compete other microorganisms. A global promoter rewiring in the Saccharomyces cerevisiae lineage, which occurred around 100 mya, was one of the main molecular events providing the background for evolution of this strategy. Here we show that the Dekkera bruxellensis lineage, which separated from the Saccharomyces yeasts more than 200 mya, also efficiently makes, accumulates and consumes ethanol and acetic acid. Analysis of promoter sequences indicates that both lineages independently underwent a massive loss of a specific cis-regulatory element from dozens of genes associated with respiration, and we show that also in D. bruxellensis this promoter rewiring contributes to the observed Crabtree effect
Brettanomyces bruxellensis yeasts: impact on wine and winemaking
Yeasts belonging to the Brettanomyces/Dekkera genus are non-conventional yeasts, which affect winemaking by causing wine spoilage all over the world. This mini-review focuses on recent results concerning the presence of Brettanomyces bruxellensis throughout the wine processing chain. Here, culture-dependent and independent methods to detect this yeast on grapes and at the very early stage of wine production are encompassed. Chemical, physical and biological tools, devised for the prevention and control of such a detrimental species during winemaking are also presented. Finally, the mini-review identifies future research areas relevant to the improvement of wine safety and sensory profiles
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