New hybrids between Saccharomyces sensu stricto yeast species found among wine and cider production strains

Two yeast isolates, a wine-making yeast first identified as a Mel(+) strain (ex. S. uvarum) and a cider-making yeast, were characterized for their nuclear and mitochondrial genomes, Electrophoretic karyotyping analyses, restriction fragment length polymorphism maps of PCR-amplified MET2 gene fragments, and the sequence analysis of a part of the two MET2 gene alleles found support the notion that these two strains constitute hybrids between Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Saccharomyces bayanus.

The two hybrid strains had completely different restriction patterns of mitochondrial DNA as well as different sequences of the OLI1 gene. The sequence of the OLI1 gene from the wine hybrid strain appeared to be the same as that of the S. cerevisiae gene, whereas the OLI1 gene of the cider hybrid strain its equally divergent from both putative parents, S. bayanus and S, cerevisiae, Some fermentative properties were also examined, and one phenotype was found to reflect the hybrid nature of these two strains.

The origin and nature of such hybridization events are discussed.