Genetic analysis of Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains isolated from palm wine in eastern Nigeria. Comparison with other African strains.

AIMS: To study the yeast diversity of Nigerian palm wines by comparison with other African strains. METHODS AND RESULTS: Twenty-three Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains were obtained from palm wine samples collected at four locations in eastern Nigeria, and characterized using different molecular techniques: internal transcribed spacer restriction fragment length polymorphism and sequence analysis, pulsed field gel electrophoresis, inter delta typing and microsatellite multilocus analysis. These techniques revealed that palm wine yeasts represent a group of closely related strains that includes other West African isolates (CBS400, NCYC110, DVPG6044). Population analysis revealed an excess of homozygote strains and an allelic richness similar to wine suggestive of local domestication. Several other African yeast strains were not connected to this group. Ghana sorghum beer strains and other African strains (DBVPG1853 and MUCL28071) displayed strikingly high relatedness with European bread, beer or wine strains, and the genome of strain MUCL30909 contained African and wine-type alleles, indicating its hybrid origin. CONCLUSIONS: Nigerian palm wine yeast represents a local specific yeast flora, whereas a European origin or hybrid was suspected for several other Africa isolates. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: This study presents the first genetic characterization of an autochthonous African palm wine yeast population and confirms the idea that human intervention has favoured yeast migration.

Nutrient utilization profile of Saccharomyces Cerevisiae from palm wine in tropical fruit fermentation.

The nutrient utilization pattern of Saccharomyces cerevisiae from palm wine was studied using tropical fruits as substrate. Starter cultures were prepared by growing 15-18 h old stock cultures of the yeast in successively larger bottles containing pasteurized fruit must. Microvinification, substrate utilization and assay of yeast activity were performed. Soluble solute (SS) content of the juices ranged from 10-18 Brix. Pinapple must had the highest SS content (18 Brix) while pawpaw had a low SS value of 10 Brix. These SS values were low compared to that of grape juice. The wines produced from the fruit must had percentage alcohol levels ranging from 10.6 to 12.6. Volatile activity ranged from 0.25 to 0.32 while crude protein values ranged from 0.58 to 0.68%. Palm wine yeast and all the other yeast strains fermented and utilized the fruit must for growth with specific growth rates ranging from 0.18 to 0.22. Sugar loss in Brix was gradual for all the fruit musts from 20.0-24.0 Brix to a range of 4.8 to 6.0 Brix. Pineapple was highly preferred for tropical wine making. Mango, cashew and pawpaw had equal ranking for commercial scale fermentation though more sugar will be needed to ameliorate cashew and pawpaw than mango juice. Palm wine yeast (OW-11) compared favourably with the other wine yeasts (CBS 8066 and ATCC 4126) both in nutrient utilization pattern and growth performance. A high degree of adaptability was observed in palm wine yeast recommands it for industrial wine production.

Optimum conditions for yeast protoplast release and regeneration in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Candida tropicalis using gut enzymes of the giant African snail Achatina achatina.

Release of viable protoplasts of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Candida tropicalis was achieved using fresh crude enzyme extracts of the giant African snail Achatina achatina. Optimum results of 2.8 x 10(6) protoplast ml(-1) were obtained when 1 g (wet wt) of cell slurry from the yeast strains was first treated with 1% beta-mercaptoethanol for 10 min and incubated with the undiluted crude enzyme for 120 min using 1.0 mol l(-1) sorbitol as osmotic stabilizer. Protoplast yield was enhanced with higher enzyme concentrations, longer digestion times and treatment of cells with beta-mercaptoethanol. Percentage regeneration of protoplast to viable cells in isotonic medium containing 0.01 mol l(-1) CaCl2 was in the range of 52-77%. These findings could be useful in the genetic manipulation of yeast of industrial importance.

Genetic and physiological variants of yeast selected from palm wine.

Genetic screening of 1200-palm wine yeasts lead to the selection of fourteen isolates with various genetic and physiological properties. Nine of the isolates were identified as Saccharamyces species, three as Candida species, one as Schizosaccharomyces species and one as Kluyveromyces species. Five of the isolates were wild type parents, two were respiratory deficient mutants (rho) and nine were auxotrophic mutants. Four isolates were heterozygous diploid (alphaa) and two were homozygous diploid (aa/alphaalpha) for the mating a mating types were further identified on mating with type loci. Four Mat alpha and four Mat a types were further identified on mating with standard haploid yeast strains. Forty-five percent sporulated on starvation medium producing tetrads. Fifty-two percent of the four-spored asci contained four viable spores. Maximum specific growth rate [micromax] of the fourteen isolates range from 0.13-0.26, five isolates were able to utilize exogenous nitrate for growth. Percentage alcohol production range between 5.8-8.8% for palm wine yeast, 8.5% for bakers' yeast and 10.4% for brewers yeast. The palm wine yeast were more tolerant to exogenous alcohol but had a low alcohol productivity. Hybridization enhanced alcohol productivity and tolerance in the palm wine yeasts.

Sero-epidemiology of rubella in Imo State of Nigeria.

931 serum samples collected at random from healthy subjects in the four health zones of Imo State were analysed for the presence of rubella haemagglutination inhibition antibodies. Rubella antibodies were present in 625 of the samples giving a prevalence of 66.6%. There was a gradual increase in the prevalence of these antibodies with increase in age except in the age group 10 to 19 years which had a high prevalence of 80 to 90%. The distribution of antibodies appeared to be influenced by type of settlement. Okigwe and Umuahia health zones, in which settlements are close together had significantly higher numbers of seropositive individuals than Owerri and Aba zones, in which communities are widely spread. Immunity to the virus was influenced by socio-economic factors. The prevalence of antibodies to the virus was greater in individuals of low socio-economic status than those of high socio-economic status. The sex of the individual was also a factor in the distribution of antibodies to rubella, more females than males having antibodies. There was no difference between urban and rural populations in the prevalence of antibody to rubella.