Biodiversity of Saccharomyces cerevisiae populations in Malbec vineyards from “Zona Alta del Río Mendoza” region in Argentina.

MERCADO L.; STURM M.E.; ROJO M.C.; CIKLIC I.; MARTINEZ C.; COMBINA M.

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FOOD MICROBIOLOGY

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Año: 2011 vol. 115 p. 319 - 326

0168-1605

The “Zona Alta del Río Mendoza” (ZARM) is the major Malbec grape viticulture region of Argentina. The aim of the present study was to explore Saccharomyces cerevisiae biodiversity in ZARM vineyards. Interdelta PCR and RFLP mtDNA molecular markers were applied to differentiate S.cerevisiae strains. The presence of commercial strains on ZARM vineyards was also assessed. Our results reveal a highly diverse, but genetically closely related, S. cerevisiae population (containing more than 190 molecular patterns among 590 S.cerevisiae isolates). According to S.cerevisiae strain diversity found in vineyards, they were classified as vineyards with high and low polymorphic S.cerevisiae populations. Six vineyards showed a high polymorphic population, with more than 20 different S.cerevisiae molecular patterns. S.cerevisiae populations in these vineyards were diverse and irregularly distributed, with different strains in each vineyard site. Low polymorphic S.cerevisiae population vineyards displayed very low yeast diversity, with only 9 to 10 different S.cerevisiae strains and presence of two commercial strains widely distributed. Population diversity estimators were calculated to determine the population structure of S.cerevisiae in the ZARM vineyards. The values obtained support the hypothesis that the eight subpopulations sampled are all of a larger population.