title: Review of current methods for characterizing virulence and pathogenicity potential of industrial Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains towards humans.
abstract: Most industrial Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains used in food or biotechnology processes are benign. However, reports of S. cerevisiae infections have emerged and novel strains continue to be developed. In order to develop recommendations for the human health risk assessment of S. cerevisiae strains, we conducted a literature review of current methods used to characterize their pathogenic potential and evaluated their relevance towards risk assessment. These studies revealed that expression of virulence traits in S. cerevisiae is complex and depends on many factors. Given the opportunistic nature of this organism, an approach using multiple lines of evidence is likely necessary for the reasonable prediction of the pathogenic potential of a particular strain. Risk assessment of S. cerevisiae strains would benefit from more research towards the comparison of virulent and non-virulent strains in order to better understand those genotypic and phenotypic traits most likely to be associated with pathogenicity.
authors.affiliation: New Substances Assessment and Control Bureau, Safe Environments Directorate, Healthy Environments and Consumer Safety Branch, Health Canada, 99 Metcalfe Street, Floor-11, Ottawa, ON K1A 0K9, Canada.
authors.forename: Valar
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Anoop
authors.affiliation: New Substances Assessment and Control Bureau, Safe Environments Directorate, Healthy Environments and Consumer Safety Branch, Health Canada, 99 Metcalfe Street, Floor-11, Ottawa, ON K1A 0K9, Canada.
authors.forename: Sever
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rotaru
authors.affiliation: Environmental Health Science Research Bureau, Environmental and Radiation Health Sciences Directorate, Healthy Environments and Consumer Safety Branch, Health Canada, 50 Colombine Driveway, Ottawa, ON K1A0K9, Canada.
authors.forename: Philip S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Shwed
authors.affiliation: Environmental Health Science Research Bureau, Environmental and Radiation Health Sciences Directorate, Healthy Environments and Consumer Safety Branch, Health Canada, 50 Colombine Driveway, Ottawa, ON K1A0K9, Canada.
authors.forename: Azam F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Tayabali
authors.affiliation: New Substances Assessment and Control Bureau, Safe Environments Directorate, Healthy Environments and Consumer Safety Branch, Health Canada, 99 Metcalfe Street, Floor-11, Ottawa, ON K1A 0K9, Canada George.Arvanitakis@hc-sc.gc.ca.
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Arvanitakis
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D006801:Humans; D007218:Industrial Microbiology; D009181:Mycoses / Q000382:microbiology*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D014774:Virulence; D037521:Virulence Factors / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D037521:Virulence Factors
keywords: S. cerevisiae; industrial; pathogenicity; risk assessment; virulence