Zygosaccharomyces

Zygosaccharomyces is a genus of yeast in the family Saccharomycetaceae. It was first described under the Saccharomyces genus but in 1983 it was reclassified to its current name in the work by Barnett et al. The yeast has a long history as a spoilage yeast within the food industry. This is mainly due to the fact that it is tolerant to many of the common food preservation methods. The biochemical properties it possesses to achieve this includes high sugar tolerance (50-60%), high ethanol tolerance (up to 18%), high acetic acid tolerance (2.0-2.5%), very high sorbic and benzoic acid tolerance (up to 800-1000mg/L), very high molecular SO2 tolerance (greater than 3mg/L) and high xerotolerance