Background • Yeast strains from different species were studied for phenotypic diversity in polygalacturonase enzyme secretion under optimum and winemaking conditions. • The 14 strains that are PG-positive under winemaking conditions will be characterized for the quantification of their PG activity, their aroma contributions and their impact on winemaking processing such as filtration time, clarity and color for future studies. • To understand the genetic basis of the enzymatic and metabolic information acquired so far, the genomic DNA of superior strains will be subjected to whole-genome sequencing (WGS), and bioinformatics analysis will be conducted to search also for other potential CAZYmes.