Abstract

Wine spoilage yeasts are one of the main issues in the winemaking industry, and the control of the Brettanomyces and Pichia genus is an important goal to reduce economic loses from undesired aromatic profiles. Previous studies have demonstrated that Candida intermedia LAMAP1790 produces antimicrobial peptides of molecular mass under 10 kDa with fungicide activity against Brettanomyces bruxellensis, without affecting the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. So far, it has not been determined whether these peptides show biocontroller effect in this yeast or other spoilage yeasts, such as Pichia guilliermondii. In this work, we determined that the exposure of B. bruxellensis to the low-mass peptides contained in the culture supernatant of C. intermedia LAMAP1790 produces a continuous rise of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in this yeast, without presenting a significant effect on membrane damage. These observations can give an approach to the antifungal mechanism. In addition, we described a fungicide activity of these peptides fraction against two strains of P. guilliermondii in a laboratory medium. However, carrying out assays on synthetic must, peptides must show an effect on the growth of B. bruxellensis. Moreover, these results can be considered as a start to develop new strategies for the biocontrol of spoilage yeast.