Rapid and reliable identification of food-borne yeasts by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy

Computer-based Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) was used to identify food-borne, predominantly fermentative yeasts. Dried yeast suspensions provided the films suitable for FT-IR measurement. Informative windows in the spectrum were selected and combined to achieve optimal results. A reference spectrum library was assembled, based on 332 defined yeast strains from international yeast collections and our own isolates. All strains were identified with conventional methods using physiological and morphological characteristics. In order to assess identification quality, another 722 unknown yeast isolates not included in the reference spectrum library were identified both by classical methods and by comparison of their FT-IR spectra with those of the reference spectrum library. Ninety-seven and one-half percent of these isolates were identified correctly by FT-IR. Easy handling, rapid identification within 24 h when starting from a single colony, and a high differentiation capacity thus render FT-IR technology clearly superior to other routine methods for the identification of yeasts.