Annual Research & Review in Biology

Palm wine is consumed around the world and known by various names. Unlike many good quality traditional fermented food and drink in developing countries that have only been marketed in their local communities, palm wine has proved to be a commercial success in that it is now canned or bottled and marketed internationally. Despite these advances, the drink has not been subjected to current technology applied to wines from grapes to improve quality. This review highlights the evolutionary relationships between yeasts isolated from the drink in two continents and the enological potential of the drink. The evolutionary history was inferred by using the Molecular Evolutionary Genetics Analysis (version 7) computer software to construct phylogenetic trees using 34 previously reported curated nucleotide sequences from the D1/D2 domain of 26S rRNA in yeasts isolated from the drink. We found that similar yeast species formed terminal taxa from a common node. However Pichia kudriavzevii species formed two distinct clades which suggest intra-species diversity. One Saccharomyces cerevisiae (accession No. HG425326) had a node distinct from other S. cerevisiae species indicating that the strain may belong to a different lineage. From literature, the enological compounds measured in different types of wines like ethyl acetate, oleic acid, ethanol, and acetic acid are present in palm wine. These primary and secondary metabolites of palm wine from different yeasts confirm the enological potentials of the drink even though higher alcohols and esters appear to be more in some wines when compared to palm wine. Future research may involve more holistic investigations that will elucidate the biochemical pathway of palm wine fermentation products.