High intraspecific variation of the cell surface physico-chemical and bioadhesion properties in Brettanomyces bruxellensis.

Brettanomyces bruxellensis is the most damaging spoilage yeast in the wine industry because of its negative impact on the wine organoleptic qualities. The strain persistence in cellars over several years associated with recurrent wine contamination suggest specific properties to persist and survive in the environment through bioadhesion phenomena. In this work, the physico-chemical surface properties, morphology and ability to adhere to stainless steel were studied both on synthetic medium and on wine. More than 50 strains representative of the genetic diversity of the species were considered. Microscopy techniques made it possible to highlight a high morphological diversity of the cells with the presence of pseudohyphae forms for some genetic groups. Analysis of the physico-chemical properties of the cell surface reveals contrasting behaviors: most of the strains display a negative surface charge and hydrophilic behavior while the Beer 1 genetic group has a hydrophobic behavior. All strains showed bioadhesion abilities on stainless steel after only 3 h with differences in the concentration of bioadhered cells ranging from 2.2 × 102 cell/cm2 to 7.6 × 106 cell/cm2. Finally, our results show high variability of the bioadhesion properties, the first step in the biofilm formation, according to the genetic group with the most marked bioadhesion capacity for the beer group.