A defined five-species wine yeast consortium assembled from Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Lachancea thermotolerans, Hanseniaspora uvarum, Starmerella bacillaris, and Torulaspora delbrueckii. Wang et al. 2026 represented each species with two phenotypically diverging strains and systematically perturbed the consortium by species drop-out and strain substitution to quantify fermentation kinetics, sugar utilization, population dynamics, primary metabolites, and major volatile compounds. Species drop-out and strain substitution both shifted population, growth, and metabolic outputs, with non-Saccharomyces substitutions affecting metabolic output more broadly than S. cerevisiae strain choice.
Taxonomy
| Taxon | Ontology ID | Functional Roles | Abundance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saccharomyces cerevisiae | NCBITaxon:4932 · TaxonMech · TraitMech |
SECONDARY_FERMENTER
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N/A |
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| Lachancea thermotolerans | NCBITaxon:381046 · TaxonMech · TraitMech |
SECONDARY_FERMENTER
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N/A |
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| Hanseniaspora uvarum | NCBITaxon:29833 · TaxonMech · TraitMech |
SECONDARY_FERMENTER
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N/A |
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| Starmerella bacillaris | NCBITaxon:1247836 · TaxonMech · TraitMech |
SECONDARY_FERMENTER
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N/A |
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| Torulaspora delbrueckii | NCBITaxon:4950 · TaxonMech · TraitMech |
SECONDARY_FERMENTER
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N/A |
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Ecological Interactions
The graph shows only explicitly linked interaction participants. Community members without an asserted participant link are omitted; membership alone does not imply an interaction.
Species drop-out and strain-substitution output shifts
Species drop-out and strain substitution changed population succession, fermentation kinetics and metabolic outputs in the defined five-species synthetic-must panel. These are positive composition-perturbation effects, not identified molecular mechanisms. All tested consortia completed fermentation within the observation period; changed kinetics should not be equated with failure to finish fermentation.
Biological Processes:
- fermentation (GO:0006113 · PathwayMech)
Evidence
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PMID:42784437 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO)"Both species drop-out and strain substitution produced significant impacts on population dynamics, growth behaviors, and metabolic outputs."
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PMID:42784437 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO)"the molecular mechanisms underlying the observed species- and strain-dependent effects were not addressed in the present work."
Inferred interspecies sugar-utilization competition
COMPETITIONPARTIAL: drop-out-associated sugar-preference shifts and compensatory relative-abundance changes support the authors' competition interpretation, principally among L. thermotolerans, S. bacillaris and T. delbrueckii. These consortium-level observations do not resolve a direct inhibitory agent or establish every pairwise relationship. ARISA measures relative DNA-based succession, not absolute viable population size; viable plating provides complementary evidence. Contact, toxins and nitrogen preferences remain candidate mechanisms, not demonstrated causes here.
Biological Processes:
- fermentation (GO:0006113 · PathwayMech)
Evidence
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PMID:42784437 - PARTIAL (IN_VITRO)"Sugar utilization and population data jointly revealed competitive interactions among species"
Non-Saccharomyces strain-dependent metabolic tuning
Among the particular strains tested, non-Saccharomyces substitutions affected a broader range of final metabolites than switching the S. cerevisiae strain. The latter still had detectable effects and was not metabolically silent. This result is panel- and synthetic-must-specific, not a universal ordering of species importance or a demonstration that strain effects share one mechanism.
Biological Processes:
- fermentation (GO:0006113 · PathwayMech)
Evidence
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PMID:42784437 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO)"Two-way analysis confirmed that the non-Saccharomyces substitutions affected the metabolic output more broadly than the S. cerevisiae strain."
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PMID:42784437 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO)"chemical outputs tracked the identity of each consortium comprising different species and strains"
Knowledge gaps & discussions (2)
KNOWLEDGE_GAP OPEN How should the ten reported strains and synthetic-must assay context be represented in the canonical species-level record?
The primary article Table 1 names the ten strains, and Methods supplies the synthetic-must assay conditions. The earlier abstract-only gap therefore concerns canonical strain and methods curation rather than missing source information. These non-graph fields require a separate evidence-backed update; species identities and the existing engineering-design block are preserved in this graph repair.
Attaches to: taxonomy#Saccharomyces cerevisiae, taxonomy#Lachancea thermotolerans, taxonomy#Hanseniaspora uvarum, taxonomy#Starmerella bacillaris, taxonomy#Torulaspora delbrueckii
KNOWLEDGE_GAP OPEN Which mechanisms account for the composition-dependent fermentation phenotypes?
Drop-outs and substitutions establish composition effects but not their molecular mediators. Relative succession is not a complete pairwise interaction matrix, and non-significant statistical interactions are not proof of absence. Do not transfer contact or toxin mechanisms from other systems to this panel.
Attaches to: ecological_interactions#Species drop-out and strain-substitution output shifts, ecological_interactions#Inferred interspecies sugar-utilization competition, ecological_interactions#Non-Saccharomyces strain-dependent metabolic tuning
1 evidence item(s)
the molecular mechanisms underlying the observed species- and strain-dependent effects were not addressed in the present work.
External Resources
| Name | Repository | Resource ID |
|---|---|---|
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PubMed - five-species wine yeast strain-substitution consortium
PubMed record for the Microbiology Spectrum article describing species drop-out and strain-substitution perturbations in a defined five-species wine yeast consortium. |
OTHER | PMID:42784437 |
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DOI - five-species wine yeast strain-substitution consortium
DOI landing page for the Microbiology Spectrum article describing the defined five-species wine yeast consortium. |
OTHER | doi:10.1128/spectrum.02819-26 |
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Environmental Factors
| Factor | Value | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| five-species strain-substitution panel | Two phenotypically diverging strains represented each of five spontaneous-wine-fermentation yeast species. | N/A |
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Cross-Mech Suite Links
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