Use of Nutritional Requirements for Brettanomyces bruxellensis to Limit Infections in Wine

Specific vitamin requirements of the wine spoilage yeast, Brettanomyces bruxellensis, were evaluated. Previous studies had not taken into influences of ethanol or nutrient carry-over between sequential transfers into vitamin-omitted media. Knowing nutritional needs, limiting growth of the yeast in wine by selective removal of important vitamins was investigated. Six strains of B. bruxellensis were grown and sequentially transferred into single vitamin-omitted media. None of the strains required p-aminobenzoic acid, folic acid, nicotinic acid, myo-inositol, pantothenic acid, or riboflavin. While some needed thiamin depending on the absence/presence of ethanol, growth of all strains was greatly affected by biotin. Here, concentrations ≥0.2 µg/L were required to achieve yeast populations >106 cfu/mL for high (104 cfu/mL) or low (102 cfu/mL) initial inoculums. At concentrations