Unveiling Bacterial Diversity in Portuguese Red Wine Effluents Through a Metagenomic Approach

The sustainable reuse of agro-industrial effluents requires a detailed understanding of their microbial composition, especially in the context of integrated vineyard-winery ecosystems. This study investigated the bacterial communities present in winery effluents generated during the early stages of red wine production, using samples collected at a winery in the Setúbal Peninsula, Portugal. Metagenomic analysis targeting the 16S rRNA gene was used to characterise microbial diversity and identify taxa with potential relevance for biotechnology and environmental applications. The effluents exhibited a diverse microbiome, including <i>Prevotella paludivivens</i>, species from the <i>Lactobacillus</i> genus, and members of the Clostridiaceae family, the latter representing about 5% of the total community. Functional profiling of lactic acid bacteria revealed the predominance of <i>Oenococcus</i> and <i>Lactobacillus</i> genera, highlighting adaptive traits that may be beneficial under stress conditions. These results suggest that winery effluents, often considered waste, harbour microbial communities with functional potential that extends beyond fermentation, contributing to a broader grape-wine microbial system. The findings emphasise the value of studying winemaking byproducts as reservoirs of microbial diversity and as resources for developing innovative and sustainable applications in biotechnology and environmental management within the wine industry.