Genetic diversity study of the yeast Saccharomyces bayanus var. uvarum reveals introgressed subtelomeric Saccharomyces cerevisiae genes

Intraspecies polymorphism of the yeast Saccharomyces bayanus var. uvarum was studied using the polymerase chain reaction with a microsatellite primer (GTG)5. Sixty-nine strains of different origins were analyzed. There existed a correlation between PCR patterns of the strains and the source of their isolation: the type of wine and the particular winemaking region. Southern hybridization analysis revealed for the first time introgression between Saccharomyces cerevisiae and S. bayanus var. uvarum. Two strains isolated from alcoholic beverages in Hungary and identified by genetic analysis as S. bayanus var. uvarum were found to harbor a number of S. cerevisiae subtelomeric sequences: Y', SUC, RTM and MAL.