1. Introduction
Over the last decades, commercial enzyme preparations have gained increasing popularity in the wine industry [
1,
2,
3,
4,
5]. They offer many advantages such as accelerated settling and clarification processes, increased juice yield, and improved color extraction (
Table 1).
Technical enzyme preparations are usually obtained from fungi, which are cultured under optimal conditions on substrates to facilitate their preparation and purification. In contrast to grape-derived enzymes, which are often inactive under wine conditions (low pH, presence of ethanol, phenolic compounds, sulphite etc.), fungal enzymes are resistant. The production of oenological enzymes for use in the European Union is regulated by the International Organization of Vine and Wine (OIV), which has ruled that
Aspergillus niger and
Trichoderma sp. may be used as source organisms (i.e., have GRAS, “generally regarded as safe” status) [
1,
2]. Selected strains from
A. niger are fermented under aerobic conditions in optimized growth media for production of pectinases, hemicellulases and glycosidases,
Trichoderma species are used for production of glucanases and
Lactobacillus fermentum for urease.
Current commercial enzyme preparations are usually cocktails of different activities, such as glucosidases, glucanases, pectinases and proteases [
5]. The search for enzymes with improved and more specific characteristics will continue. In this respect, the study and exploration of the high endogenous enzyme potential of wine and grape-associated microorganisms (
Table 2) will assist the wine industry to meet prospective technical and consumer challenges. In contrast to filamentous fungi, yeasts with beneficial enzymatic endowment, could be directly used as starter cultures, without application of enzyme preparations.
In the following paragraphs we give an overview on widely used enzyme preparations for wine fermentation and a special focus on wine-associated microorganisms as alternative enzyme sources.
3. Lipases
Lipids in wine originate directly from the grape berry [
24] and by autolysis of wine yeast [
25]. It has been reported that lipid composition undergoes considerable changes during wine fermentation [
26].
Authentic lipases (E.C. 3.1.1.3) are mainly active at the oil–water interface of emulsified substrates with long fatty acid chains. Triglycerides are cleaved rendering glycerol and fatty acids. In contrast, carboxylic ester hydrolases (see below) hydrolyze soluble esters with relatively short fatty acid chains [
27]. However, the transition between both activities appears somewhat fluid.
Lipolytic activities have been detected only in few wine-relevant
Lactobacillus strains [
28], but in different genera of yeasts isolated from natural environments [
29,
30]. In theory, lipases could be used for winemaking for decomposition of lipoid cell membranes, thereby improving color extraction from red grape berries (
Figure 1).
5. Glycosidases
The organoleptic properties of wine are determined by a variety of different compounds that are already present in the grape (aroma) or arise during fermentation or storage (bouquet). Acids such as tartaric acid or citric acid affect the taste, but the characteristic odor and taste is mainly due to volatile organic substances such as esters, alcohols, thiols or terpenes [
36,
37,
38].
Due to their low odor threshold, particularly terpenes determine wine flavor. Like other aroma active compounds (C13 norisoprenoids, benzene derivatives, aliphatic alcohols, phenols), they are secondary metabolites mainly derived from the grape skin. Approximately 90% of these compounds do not exist in a free form, but are conjugated to mono- or disaccharides, thereby forming water-soluble and odourless complexes. The most frequently occurring aroma precursors in grape varieties such as
Muscat and
Riesling are the glycosidic bound terpenes linalool, nerol and geraniol. The sugar residues consist of rutinoside (rhamnose-glucose), arabinoside (arabinose-glucose) or apioside (apiose-glucose) [
38].
Enzymatic hydrolysis of sugar-conjugated precursors release very aromatic, volatile terpenes (aglycones). Usually, the terminal sugars are first cleaved off by a rhamnosidase, an arabinosidase or an apiosidase. In a second step, the terpenes are released by a β-
d-glucopyranosidase. This means that the latter activity alone can release only terpene compounds bound to a single glucose residue. In addition to a stepwise reaction, some glucosidases are able to hydrolyze the glycosidic bond to the aglycone, regardless of the number of sugar residues [
39,
40]. Nowadays commercial enzyme preparations are available that can hydrolyze the disaccharide directly from the terpene in a single step [
5]. In many bulk enzyme preparations, glycosidase activities occur as side activities along with pectinase and glucanase activities (
Table 3).
An important microbial source of wine-related enzymatic activities are lactic acid bacteria [
28] (
Table 2). Perez-Martin et al. [
41] studied >1000 isolates for glycosidases. The β-glucosidase activities were only found in cells, but not in the supernatants of the cultures. Four
O. oeni isolates retained their enzymatic activity under the conditions of winemaking. In a similar study, cell-bound glucosidase and arabinosidase activities from
O. oeni strains released high levels of monoterpenes from natural substrates under optimal conditions [
42]. The enzymes showed broad substrate specificities (release of both primary and tertiary terpene alcohols) and remained active in grape juice.
Glycosidase activities have been also detected in various non-
Saccharomyces yeasts (
Candida,
Hanseniaspora,
Pichia,
Metschnikowia,
Rhodotorula,
Trichosporon,
Wickerhamomyces) [
43,
44,
45,
46,
47,
48,
49,
50,
51,
52] (
Table 5). Several experiments on the technical application of yeast glycosidases to improve organoleptic quality of wines gave positive results [
40,
44,
46,
49,
50].
Polyphenols in red wine, such as resveratrol, have gained increasing public and scientific interest due to their supposed beneficial effects on human health [
53]. A majority of the polyphenols in nature are conjugated to sugars or organic acids, making them more hydrophilic and less bioavailable to humans. The amount of glycosylated forms of resveratrol, known as piceid or polydatin, has been found to be up to ten times higher in red wines. Since these modified forms are less bioactive, experiments with β-glucosidases from various fungal sources have been undertaken to increase the trans-resveratrol content in wines by hydrolysis of glycosylated precursors. The multifunctional glucanase WaExg2 of
W. anomalus AS1 released the aglycones from the model compounds arbutin, salicin, esculin and polydatin [
52]. WaExg2 was active under typical wine conditions such as low pH (3.5–4.0), high sugar concentrations (up to 20%
w/
v), high ethanol concentrations (10–15%
v/
v), presence of sulphites and various cations. Therefore, this yeast strain could be useful in wine production for several purposes: to increase the levels of sensory and beneficial compounds by cleaving glycosylated precursors or reducing the viscosity by hydrolysis of glycan slurries. In this context Madrigal et al. [
29] underlined that glucose- and ethanol-tolerant enzymes from
Wickerhamomyces are of great interest to the wine industry.
6. Esterhydrolases and -Synthetases
Esters (e.g., ethyl acetate, isoamyl acetate, ethyl hexanoate, ethyl octanoate, ethyl decanoate) contribute to the most desirable fruity wine flavors [
36,
37]. They are synthesized by the grapes but are also produced by yeasts in course of alcoholic fermentation [
55]. During malolactic fermentation, significant changes in the concentration of individual esters were observed [
56]. Presence of alcohol acyltransferases (ester synthesis) and esterases (ester hydrolysis) in wine yeasts [
37] and lactic acid bacteria [
57] is well documented.
Depsides are esters of aromatic hydroxycarboxylic- or phenolic acids with each other or with other carboxylic acids of the grape, such as tartaric acid [
5]. These compounds can be hydrolyzed by cinnamoyl esterases (“depsidases”), which often appear as side activities in enzyme preparations made from
A. niger [
5] The fission products can have a negative influence on wine quality. Enzymatic deliberated phenolcarboxylic acids, such as caffeic acid or coumaric acid, can be converted by the yeast metabolism to the volatile phenol derivatives 4-vinylguajacol and 4-vinylphenol, which are unpleasant side-tastes in the wine [
5]. Therefore, commercial pectinase preparations should be free of depsidase side activities. In a recent study of 15 commercial enzyme preparations, approximately half of the samples yielded significant cinnamoyl esterase activities [
58].
7. Proteinases
Proteins in must in wine are derived from the grapes, and from microbial cells (yeasts, lactic, acid bacteria) and their activities [
59]. Another important source are protein-based wine additives (e.g., lysozyme, ovalbumin, gelatin, casein) which could pose allergenic-like reactions to consumers [
60,
61,
62]. Most of these proteins have vanished after termination of wine fermentation and subsequent fining procedures. However so-called pathogen-related (PR) proteins (β-glucanases, chitinases, thaumatin-related proteins) can still be present. They are synthesized by the plants for defence against bacterial or fungal infections and in response to abiotic stress [
63]. Due to their compact structures, they are resistant against acid wine conditions, heat, and proteolysis [
59].
In combination with other wine ingredients, PR proteins can cause undesirable turbidity especially during cold storage of white wines with negative economic consequences [
59]. Currently, protein removal is mainly achieved by bentonite addition [
64], a process that can be associated with decreased wine quantity and quality. Bentonite acts essentially as a cation exchanger, and individual wine proteins adsorb to different degrees on the clay [
64]. Proteins that are negatively charged at wine pH (about 3.5) and/or are highly glycosylated as laccases of
Botrytis cinerea are less bound by bentonite. Thus, new fining agents are desired to remove proteins from wine.
7.1. Proteases from Fungal and Plant Sources
Enzymatic degradation of wine proteins seems an attractive alternative to bentonite treatment as it would minimize losses of volume and aroma. As a prerequisite, suitable proteases have to be active under specific wine conditions (acid pH, presence of ethanol, sulphites, phenolics) and preferably act at low temperatures. Another challenge is the resistance of PR proteins against proteolysis due to their special molecular features like disulfide-bonds and glycosylations. Nevertheless, other grape proteins might be more susceptible, and thus proteases may help to reduce effective bentonite dosages. Currently, proteases from plants (papain, bromelain) have been tested with some promising results [
65,
66]. A fungal protease from
Aspergillus sp. (aspergilloglutamic peptidase) has already approved for Australian winemaking [
67]. The enzymatic procedure involves flash-pasteurization of grape must and is thus limited to specialized wineries. In this context, a protease of
Botrytis cinerea BcAp8 has been described to hydrolyze grape chitinase at moderate temperatures [
68].
7.2. Microbial Proteases
Microbial proteases can be an alternative or supplement to bentonite treatment for removal of unwanted wine proteins. Most
Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains show no extracellular protease activity on diagnostic agar media [
16,
17,
18,
19,
69]. However, a 72 kDa extracellular pepsin-like aspartic protease was characterized from a PIR 1 strain [
70,
71]. The enzyme was active during grape juice fermentations, although it did not affect turbidity-inducing proteins, unless the wine was incubated at 38 °C for extended time.
Proteinase A (PrA, saccharomycin; EC 3.4.23.25) is the major vacuole protease of
S. cerevisiae encoded by the
PEP4 gene. As result of yeast autolysis, PrA enters wine in course of alcoholic fermentation. Far more, it has been found that under stress conditions (e.g., nutrient limitations) PrA is not targeted to the vacuole, but is misdirected to the cell membrane and secreted in the medium [
72]. This would be advantageous for winemaking in view of haze reduction. Interestingly, the same situation is undesirable for beer brewery as PrA degrades proteins (e.g., lipid transfer protein 1), necessary for foam formation. Apart from PrA,
S. cerevisiae expresses different cell-bound proteases, some of which are not fully characterized [
73].
Non-
Saccharomyces yeasts are important sources of extracellular enzymes including proteases (
Table 6). Strains of
Metschnikowia pulcherrima and
Wickerhamomyces anomalus secreted aspartic proteases and degraded a model protein (bovine serum albumin) during growth in grape juice [
74]. In a recent study, heterologous expressed aspartic protease MpAPr1 from
M. pulcherrima [
75] was added to a Sauvignon Blanc must. It was shown that the enzyme was active during fermentation and degraded wine proteins to some extent [
76]. An alternative strategy would be to perform wine fermentations with appropriate protease-positive starter cultures. In addition to cost reductions, there are no administrative restrictions for yeast applications in must and wine, which must be taken into account with enzyme preparations.
Occurrence of proteolytic activities in lactic acid bacteria is also well-documented [
28] (
Table 2). Growth of
Oenococcus oeni depends on the presence of amino acids in the culture medium because of deficiency in corresponding synthetic pathways. This bacterium secretes several proteases which may help to gain access to rare nitrogen sources during malolactic fermentation [
77].
8. Phenoloxidases
Spontaneous and enzymatic oxidations exert dramatic effects on the final phenolic composition from the grape berry to bottled wine [
82,
83]. Once the integrity of the berries is destroyed, oxidative enzymes (phenoloxidases) and their phenolic substrates are exposed to the air, resulting in enzymatic browning (
Figure 2).
There are two classes of copper enzymes responsible for these reactions [
82,
83]: Tyrosinase (E.C. 1.14.18.1) hydroxylates monophenols to ortho-diphenols and oxidizes the latter to ortho-quinone intermediates which easily react further to polymeric, mostly colored products. Laccase (E.C. 1.10.3.2) has no monohydroxylase activity, and oxidizes a broad spectrum of different phenols and other compounds by a radical mechanism. Tyrosinase originates from grape berries [
84], whereas laccases in must and wine are derived from epiphytic fungi, particularly
Botrytis cinerea [
82]. Phenolic compounds as caffeic acid, gallic acid, vanillic acid, ferulic acid, or especially resveratrol are known for their beneficial effects on human health. In addition to be radical scavengers, they are activators of the human’s intrinsic cellular antioxidant system and have antimicrobial properties. Tyrosinase and laccase oxidize phenolic wine compounds and thus alter their antioxidant and antimicrobial properties [
85,
86,
87]. In this context, it is an interesting observation that gallic acid oxidation by a laccase from
Trametes versicolor was higher at 30 °C than at 45 °C. Although fungal laccases are usually more active at higher temperatures, the effect can be explained by reduced oxygen solubility under the experimental conditions [
88].
Laccase is generally not very welcome in wine, but several studies have ruled out that controlled laccase treatments could promote wine stabilization and even improve sensory properties [
89,
90,
91,
92,
93].
Volatile phenols particular produced by
Brettanomyces/
Dekkera sp. yeasts are associated with a serious “Brett” taste defect in wine. Lustrata et al. [
94] used a laccase from
T. versicolor to reduce concentrations of 4-ethylguaiacol and 4-ethylphenol in a synthetic model wine.
Biogenic amines (BA) are another class of undesirable compounds in wine [
95,
96,
97]. They originate from the grape berries or are formed during fermentation by activities of decarboxylase-positive microorganisms [
98,
99,
100,
101,
102]. Although more common in foods such as cheese, BA have received much attention in wine, as ethanol can enhance the negative effects on human health by inhibiting the enzymes responsible for the detoxification of these compounds [
101].
Enzymatic degradation of BA is usually catalyzed by various classes of oxidases [
103,
104]. Depending on the type of prosthetic group, they can be classified into FAD-dependent (E.C. 1.4.3.4) and copper-containing amine oxidases (CAOs, E.C. 1.4.3.6). The latter have been detected in various yeasts such as
Kluyeromyces marxianus or
Debaryomyces hansenii [
105,
106]. These enzymes belong to the class of type 2 or “non-blue” copper proteins which convert primary amines to the corresponding aldehydes with an equimolar consumption of molecular oxygen and formation of hydrogen peroxide and ammonia.
Aromatic amines such as tyramine, phenylethylamine, tryptamine or serotonin are another class of compounds that can be oxidized by laccases [
19]. Callejónet et al. [
107] detected enzymatic activities responsible for BA degradation in lactic acid bacterial strains isolated from wine. Responsible enzymes have been isolated and purified from
Lactobacillus plantarum J16 and
Pediococcus acidilactici CECT 5930 strains and have been identified as intracellular laccase-like multicopper oxidases. When the
L. plantarum J16 laccase was overexpressed in
Escherichia coli, it oxidized some BA, mainly tyramine [
108].
10. Lysozyme
Yeasts, lactic acid and acetic acid bacteria have a significant influence on wine quality [
110]. Microbial growth in musts and wines is conventionally controlled by the addition of sulfur dioxide. However, presence of sulphites in alcoholic beverages, particularly in wines, can cause pseudo-allergic responses with symptoms ranging from gastrointestinal problems to anaphylactic shock [
32,
33]. Other antimicrobials such as sorbic acid and dimethyl carbonate are primarily active against yeasts, but have limited activity against bacteria [
32,
34].
Lysozyme (EC 3.2.1.17) is a muramidase widely used to control microbial growth in foods such as cheese and wines [
111,
112]. Extensive enzymatic hydrolysis of the bacterial cell wall peptidoglycan, a polymer of
N-acetyl-
d-glucosamine units which are β-1,4-linked to
N-acetylmuramic acid, results in cell lysis and death in hypoosmotic environments. Some lysozymes can kill bacteria by stimulating autolysin activity. In addition, bactericidal mechanisms involving membrane damage without enzymatic hydrolysis of peptidoglycan has been reported for c-type lysozymes, such as hen egg white lysozyme [
113]. Gram-negative bacteria (i.e., acetic acid bacteria) are rather resistant against lysozyme, because the outer membrane acts as a barrier.
Lysozyme commercially produced from hen’s egg white has been approved for winemaking by the International Organization of Vine and Wine in 2001 [
114]. The amount added normally ranges between 250–500 mg/L. Four main applications and dosages are: (a) prevention of the onset of malolactic fermentation (early addition of 100–150 mg/L); (b) total inhibition of bacteria activity and malolactic fermentation (500 mg/L); (c) protection of wine during suboptimal alcoholic fermentation (250–300 mg/L); (d) stabilization of wine after malolactic fermentation (250–300 mg/L). Lysozyme can be eliminated by addition of fining agents, among which bentonite and metatartaric acid are the most efficient.
It has been reported that various Gram-positive strains of
Pediococcus sp.,
Lactobacillus sp. and
Oenococcus oeni [
113] were not efficiently hydrolyzed by hen’s egg white lysozyme. Reasonable explanations are structural modifications of the peptidoglycan, like
N-deacetylation and
O-acetylation of the glycan chains or amidation of free carboxyl groups of amino acids in the peptide chains [
113]. As a possible alternative to hen’s egg white lysozyme, exoenzymes (protease and muramidase) from
Streptomyces species showed a broad bacteriolytic spectrum under winemaking conditions [
98,
113].
It should be mentioned that hen’s egg lysozyme can display pH-dependent chitinase side activities. Under adverse conditions yeast cell walls (containing 2–4% chitin primarily in the bud scar regions) can be weakened by lysozyme with significant effects on vitality and stress response of
Saccharomyces cerevisiae during wine fermentation [
114].
11. Legislative Regulations
The use of enzymes in wine production in the European Union is regulated by the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV). Specified resolutions define general aspects of enzymes in winemaking, the permitted enzyme activities, mode of application and enzyme activity measurements. The USA, Canada and China have national regulations in winemaking [
5].
Genetic engineering. Today’s enzyme production is based either on special selected wildtype strains or on genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The use of GMO production strains has considerable advantages: the product yields with GMOs is much higher than with wild strains and undesirable side activities become minimized. This makes it more efficient to produce and to guarantee the purity of the enzyme products. The labelling is regulated by the resolution OIV-OENO 485-2012.
GMOs for must fermentations. Although increasing numbers of
Saccharomyces yeasts have been improved by genetically engineering [
115,
116], only two GMOs have been allowed for winemaking in three countries. The first recombinant strain to get official approval by appropriate food safety authorities (in the USA and Canada) was the malolactic wine yeast ML01. The GMO carries the
Schizosaccharomyces pombe malate permease gene (
mae1) and the
Oenococcus oeni malolactic gene (
mleA). The second strain ECMo01 expresses the urease gene constitutively to prevent formation of urethane [
115]. Whether yeast strains obtained by protoplast fusion should be considered as GMO is in legal limbo.