title: Variable flocculation profiles of yeast strains isolated from cachaça distilleries.
abstract: In cachaça production, the use of yeast cells as starters with predictable flocculation behavior facilitates the cell recovery at the end of each fermentation cycle. Therefore, the aim of this work was to explain the behavior of cachaça yeast strains in fermentation vats containing sugarcane through the determination of biochemical and molecular parameters associated with flocculation phenotypes. By analyzing thirteen cachaça yeast strains isolated from different distilleries, our results demonstrated that neither classic biochemical measurements (e.g., percentage of flocculation, EDTA sensitivity, cell surface hydrophobicity, and sugar residues on the cell wall) nor modern molecular approaches, such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and real-time PCR (q-PCR), were sufficient to distinctly classify the cachaça yeast strains according to their flocculation behavior. It seems that flocculation is indeed a strain-specific phenomenon that is difficult to explain and/or categorize by the available methodologies.
authors.affiliation: Cerlev - Projetos e Inovação na Biotecnologia da Fermentação Ltda, Rua Amaro Lanari 59, Saramenha, 35.400-000 Ouro Preto, MG, Brazil.
authors.forename: Florencia
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Alvarez
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Biologia Celular e Molecular, Núcleo de Pesquisas em Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto, Brazil.
authors.forename: Lygia Fátima da Mata
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Correa
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Biologia Celular e Molecular, Núcleo de Pesquisas em Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto, Brazil.
authors.forename: Thalita Macedo
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Araújo
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Biologia Celular e Molecular, Núcleo de Pesquisas em Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto, Brazil.
authors.forename: Bruno Eduardo Fernandes
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Mota
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Biologia Celular e Molecular, Núcleo de Pesquisas em Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto, Brazil.
authors.forename: Luís Eduardo F Ribeiro
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: da Conceição
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Biologia Celular e Molecular, Núcleo de Pesquisas em Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto, Brazil.
authors.forename: Ieso de Miranda
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Castro
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Biologia Celular e Molecular, Núcleo de Pesquisas em Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto, Brazil. Electronic address: rlbrand@nupeb.ufop.br.
authors.forename: Rogelio Lopes
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Brandão
mesh_terms: D005285:Fermentation; D005427:Flocculation; D019649:Food Industry; D005516:Food Microbiology; D005800:Genes, Fungal / Q000235:genetics; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Ale and lager behaviors; Cachaça; Flocculation; Saccharomyces cerevisiae