Identification of yeasts in fermented foods and beverages using MALDI-TOF MS

Yeasts are an important group of microorganisms and contribute to the fermentation of a broad range of foods and beverages spontaneously or as a starter culture. Rapid and reliable microbial species identification is essential to evaluate biodiversity in fermented foods and beverages. Nowadays, high-throughput omics technologies and bioinformatics tools produce large-scale molecular-level data in many fields. These omics technologies generate data at different expression levels and are used to identify microorganisms. Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) is a powerful analytical technique in proteomic technology. It is a tool used to analyze the peptides or proteins of microorganisms for identification. MALDI-TOF MS has been used for the taxonomic identification of microorganisms as a fast, high-throughput, and cost-effective method. This review briefly discussed the application of MALDI-TOF MS in identifying yeasts in fermented foods and beverages.

Automated summary

Yeasts play an important role in the fermentation of various foods and beverages. Quick and reliable identification of microbial species is crucial for assessing biodiversity in fermented products. Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) is a fast, high-throughput, and cost-effective method used for taxonomic identification of microorganisms, including yeasts, in fermented foods and beverages.