Studies on the gushing potential of Penicillium expansum

Gushing describes the spontaneous excessive over-foaming of carbonated beverages leading to considerable economic losses and reputational damages to the beverage industry. Surface-active proteins produced by filamentous fungi are involved in the induction of gushing. In the current study, the role of Penicillium expansum in sparkling wine gushing was investigated. Almost 40 P. expansum strains were analyzed regarding their ability to secrete surface-active proteins and to induce gushing in carbonated water as a model system and in sparkling wine. The majority of the strains produced surface-active compounds and induced gushing. The severity of gushing depended on the volume of culture supernatant added to carbonated liquids. Moreover, sparkling wine showed more severe gushing than carbonated water. A protein with a molecular mass of 20 kDa was prominent in gushing-inducing P. expansum culture supernatants. It was identified as PEX2_044840 from P. expansum. This protein was heterologously expressed in Pichia pastoris (Komagataella phaffi). The purified recombinant protein induced gushing in sparkling wine after addition of at least 30 µg/mL of protein sample.