Atypical yeasts identified as Saccharomyces cerevisiae by MALDI-TOF MS and gene sequencing are the main responsible of fermentation of chicha, a traditional beverage from Peru

Chicha is a drink prepared in several Andean countries from Inca's times by maize fermentation. Currently this fermentation is carried out in familiar artesanal “chicherías” that make one of the most known types of chicha, the “chicha de jora”. In this study we isolate and identify the yeasts mainly responsible of the fermentation process in this type of chicha in 10 traditional “chicherías” in Cusco region in Peru. We applied by first time MALDI-TOF MS analysis for the identification of yeast of non-clinic origin and the results showed that all of yeast strains isolated belong to the species Saccharomyces cerevisiae. These results agree with those obtained after the analysis of the D1/D2 and 5.8S-ITS regions. However the chicha strains have a phenotypic profile that differed in more than 40% as compared to that of current S. cerevisiae strains. To the best of our knowledge this is the first report concerning the yeasts involved in chicha fermentation.