Screening of wild-type Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains for single-cell protein production in white grape juice

Abstract Increasing demand for sustainable protein sources has intensified interest in single-cell protein (SCP) production. This study evaluated the fermentation performance of wild-type Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains isolated from grape vineyards to identify candidates for SCP bioprocesses. Following morphological characterization and pH screening, strains were cultivated in white grape juice supplemented with 1% (w/v) yeast extract for 72 h at 28 °C. K-means clustering, principal component analysis (PCA), and growth curve modelling were applied to differentiate the strains. Strains HUF16M2K10004 and HUF16M3G11088 reached wet cell weights of 21.56 ± 0.13 and 27.90 ± 0.49 g/L, dry cell weights of 6.01 ± 0.05 and 6.46 ± 0.44 g/L, water-soluble protein contents of 2.00 ± 0.15 and 1.92 ± 0.07 g/L, with growth rates of 0.15 ± 0.02 and 0.23 ± 0.02 h⁻ 1 , comparable to those of the commercial reference strains. Both wild-type strains represent preliminary candidates for future SCP-oriented characterization studies.