Investigação da biodiversidade e do potencial fermentativo de leveduras isoladas de frutos nativos da Amazônia central

Abstract

The diversity of fruit-bearing plants in the Brazilian Amazon goes beyond their visible richness, revealing a vast, yet underexplored bioactive potential. With the increasing demand for products containing bioactive compounds, the search for innovative alternatives intensifies, highlighting the importance of exploring the microbiological variability present in each plant. This study aimed to investigate the biodiversity and the potential for alcoholic fermentation of yeasts isolated from native fruits of Central Amazonia, through the isolation and characterization of these yeasts using biochemical and molecular methods. Thus, the goal was to assess the diversity and fermentative activity of the yeasts, focusing on their potential for the production of fermented beverages from Amazonian fruits. Fruits from ten species of Amazonian phanerogams were collected: açaí, patauá, tucumã, inajá, pupunharana, guaraná, taperebá, araçá-boi, bacuri-do-igapó, and ubaia. This resulted in the isolation of 24 yeasts, which were identified as species from the genera Meyerozyma sp. (five isolates), Pichia (four of P. kudriavzevii and three of P. terricola), and Kodamaea ohmeri (four isolates). Additionally, representatives of the subphylum Saccharomycotina (one isolate), the family Debaryomycetaceae (three isolates), the family Rhynchogastremaceae (one isolate), and the genus Hanseniaspora sp. (one isolate) were identified. Morphological analyses revealed cellular differences among the isolates, even among those molecularly identified as belonging to the same species. Fermentative analysis showed that the specimens from the Debaryomycetaceae family, the genus Meyerozyma, as well as the species Kodamaea ohmeri and Pichia kudriavzevii, were capable of fermenting glucose, sucrose, and fructose. Notably, P. kudriavzevii demonstrated the best characteristics for the development of regional fermented beverages from Theobroma grandiflorum (cupuaçu) and Astrocaryum aculeatum (tucumã).