Nonconventional Yeast-Promoted Biotransformation for the Production of Flavor Compounds

The rising consumer requests for natural flavors and fragrances has generated a great interest in the aroma industry to seek new methods to obtain fragrance and flavor compounds naturally. An alternative and attractive route for these compounds is based on biotransformations. In this context, non-conventional yeasts (NCYs) have attracted increasing interest due to their biochemical characteristics and potential applications, being able to produce aroma compounds from a variety of carbon sources, including sugars, alkanes, plant oils, starch hydrolysates, ethanol, and glycerol. Apart from classical fermentation processes (de novo synthesis), bioconversion of appropriate precursor compounds are also being developed to produce food aromas. An overview on the potential of NCYs whole cell for producing food flavors by biotransformation is illustrated in this chapter by a discussion of the production of different class of compounds, namely Aldehydes, Ketones and related compounds, Alcohols, Lactones, Terpenes and Terpenoids, Alkenes, and Phenols.