RESUMO
Fourteen indigenous Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains isolated from the barks of three tree species located in the Atlantic Rain Forest and Cerrado biomes in Brazil were genetically and physiologically compared to laboratory strains and to strains from the Brazilian fuel ethanol industry. Although no clear correlation could be found either between phenotype and isolation spot or between phenotype and genomic lineage, a set of indigenous strains with superior industrially relevant traits over commonly known industrial and laboratory strains was identified: strain UFMG-CM-Y257 has a very high specific growth rate on sucrose (0.57 ± 0.02 h-1), high ethanol yield (1.65 ± 0.02 mol ethanol mol hexose equivalent-1), high ethanol productivity (0.19 ± 0.00 mol L-1 h-1), high tolerance to acetic acid (10 g L-1) and to high temperature (40°C). Strain UFMG-CM-Y260 displayed high ethanol yield (1.67 ± 0.13 mol ethanol mol hexose equivalent-1), high tolerance to ethanol and to low pH, a trait which is important for non-aseptic industrial processes. Strain UFMG-CM-Y267 showed high tolerance to acetic acid and to high temperature (40°C), which is of particular interest to second generation industrial processes.