Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. boulardii NCYC 3264 is the only yeast species with probiotic properties. It is considered to have therapeutic significance in gastro-intestinal disorders. In this paper, a comparative physiological study between this yeast and Saccharomyces cerevisiae (BY4742) was performed by evaluating two prominent traits of probiotic species,  responses to different stress conditions and antioxidant capacity. A global metabolite profile was also developed in order to identify which therapeutically important secondary metabolites are produced. S. cerevisiae var. boulardii showed faster growth and greater stress tolerance when compared with S. cerevisiae. It also demonstrated an antioxidant potential which was further elucidated in the metabolite profiling. The extracellular fraction of the yeast cultures was found to be rich in polyphenolic metabolites which results in the antioxidant capacity of this strain.  The potential to exploit S. cerevisiae var. boulardii in the industrial production of these metabolites is also discussed.

 

Keywords: Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. boulardii NCYC 3264, probiotic, Saccharomyces cerevisiae BY4742, stress-tolerance, antioxidant capacity, global metabolite profiling