Zygosaccharomyces bailii and two closely related species, Z. parabailii and Z. pseudobailii ("Z. bailii species complex", "Z. bailii sensu lato" or simply "Z. bailii (s.l.)"), are frequently implicated in the spoilage of acidified preserved foods and beverages due to their tolerance to very high concentrations of weak acids used as food preservatives. The recent sequencing and annotation of these species' genomes have clarified their genomic organization and phylogenetic relationship, which includes events of interspecies hybridization. Mechanistic insights into their adaptation and tolerance to weak acids (e.g., acetic and lactic acids) are also being revealed. Moreover, the potential of Z. bailii (s.l.) to be used in industrial biotechnological processes as interesting cell factories for the production of organic acids, reduction of the ethanol content, increase of alcoholic beverages aroma complexity, as well as of genetic source for increasing weak acid resistance in yeast, is currently being considered. This chapter includes taxonomical, ecological, physiological, and biochemical aspects of Z. bailii (s.l.). The focus is on the exploitation of physiological genomics approaches that are providing the indispensable holistic knowledge to guide the effective design of strategies to overcome food spoilage or the rational exploitation of these yeasts as promising cell factories.
Keywords: Food spoilage; Microbial cell factories; Nonconventional yeasts; Physiological genomics; Weak acid tolerance; Weak acids production; Zygosaccharomyces.