High-Throughput Phenotypic and Metabolic Screening of Wild Yeasts for Their Biotechnological Application

Due to the vast diversity and potential of wild yeasts, there is significant interest in exploring their capabilities for use in biotechnological applications. For this reason, we developed a phenotypic screening procedure to characterize large collections of yeast isolates using high-throughput methods and considering a wide range of physiological traits, mainly relevant to the wine industry. Two sets of phenotypic tests are proposed to be used in combination: the first one based on liquid cultures, and the second one based on solid media. Additionally, our protocol also includes the evaluation of the yeasts' fermentative performance, through individual fermentations in synthetic grape must with the isolates' metabolic profile being subsequently assessed by HPLC.