Determination of killer activity in yeasts isolated from the elaboration of seasoned green table olives

In this work 51 yeasts strains isolated from seasoned green table olives and belonging to the Candida, Debaryomyces, Kluyveromyces, Pichia, and Saccharomyces genera were characterized by their killer activity in different conditions. Killer activity of isolates was analyzed in a medium with different pH's (3.5 to 8.5) and NaCl concentrations (5, 8, and 10%). At every pH tested, all the genera studied had killer strains, although the smallest percentages of killer yeasts were found at the highest pH (8.5). The presence of 5 and 8% NaCl increased the detected killer percentage, but the highest salt concentration (10%) decreased it. The interaction between the reference killer yeasts and yeasts isolated from olives was analyzed. Most isolates were killer-sensitive to one or more killer reference strains. Only 2 of the 51 strains tested were considered killer-neutral. Cross-reaction trials between isolates and spoilage yeasts showed that, of the isolates, nine killer strains, belonging to Debaryomyces hansenii, Kluyveromyces marxianus, Pichia anomala, Pichia guilliermondii, and Saccharomyces cerevisiae, had the broadest spectra of action against yeasts that cause spoilage. These killer yeasts and the toxins that they produce are candidates for further investigation as suppressors of indigenous olive table yeast growth. The results confirmed the highly polymorphic expression of the killing activity, with each strain showing different killer activities. This method may thus be very useful for simple and rapid characterization of yeast strains of industrial interest.