Plums (Prunus domestica L.) are a good source of yeasts producing organic acids of industrial interest from glycerol

The production of organic acids from several yeasts isolated from mature plums on media containing glycerol as carbon source was analysed by HPLC-UV. The yeasts isolated were identified by sequencing the 5.8S internal transcribed spacer as Pichia fermentans, Wickerhamomyces anomalus and Candida oleophila. The organic acid profiles of these strains comprise acetic, citric, succinic and malic acids that qualitatively and quantitatively vary between different species as well as among strains from the same species. The production from glycerol of succinic, acetic, citric, malic and oxalic acids from C. oleophila and W. anomalus, and that of succinic, oxalic and acetic acids by P. fermentans is reported for the first time in this work, as is the production of oxalic acid from glycerol in yeasts. Our results also showed that mature fruits can be a good source of new yeasts able to metabolise glycerol, producing different organic acids with industrial and biotechnological interest.