Selected cachaça yeast strains share a genomic profile related to traits relevant to industrial fermentation processes.

The isolation and selection of yeast strains to improve the quality of the -Brazilian Spirit-have been studied in our research group. Our strategy considers as the predominant species involved in sugarcane juice fermentation and the presence of different stressors (osmolarity, temperature, ethanol content, and competition with other microorganisms). It also considers producing balanced concentrations of volatile compounds (higher alcohols and acetate and/or ethyl esters), flocculation capacity, and ethanol production.

Cachaça yeast strains: alternative starters to produce beer and bioethanol.

This work was performed to verify the potential of yeast strains isolated from cachaça distilleries for two specific biotechnological applications: beer and bioethanol production. In the beer production, the strains were tested for characteristics required in brewery practices, such as: capacity to ferment maltose and maltotriose, ability to grow at lowest temperatures, low HS production, and flocculation profile. Among the strains tested, two of them showed appropriate characteristics to produce two different beer styles: lager and ale.

Variable flocculation profiles of yeast strains isolated from cachaça distilleries.

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.