Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** florida is one of the largest…

Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** florida is one of the largest wine markets in the U.S. And is ranked among the top 10 in wine production in the nation. Florida's wines are predominantly produced with muscadine grapes (muscadinia rotundifolia, small) yet are fermented by generic commercial strains of saccharomyces cerevisiae which originate and are used with the traditional european grapes(vitis vinifera, l).a new trend in modern winemaking is the use of the almost forgotten natural fermentation with indigenous yeast, which can enhance the regional character of the wine by producing distinct color, flavor, aroma, health-beneficial bioactive compounds, and better market value of the final product.florida's unique climatic conditions have the potential to produce yeasts with favorable and signature aroma profiles. With this multidisciplinary research project, we are aiming to: (1) reach to new discoveries by generating the uplc-TOF-MS and GC-MS-based non-targeted metabolomic profiles of signature styles of muscadine wines fermented with indigenous yeasts; (2) establish and curate much-needed reference biorepository of autochthonous yeast species from regional muscadine vineyards (FL, LA, TX) for the use of researchers and industry; and (3) expand training opportunities for minority students, producers and extension personnel in advanced bioprocessing technologies.expected outcomes will not be limited only to: (i) novel muscadine wine metabolomics data and original muscadine winemaking yeast strains; (II) new famu patents; (III) new high-quality regional wines; (IV) new market opportunities for the industry; (v) training opportunity for young professionals in cutting edge technologies; (VI) new workforce and economic development for rural communities in the southeastern U.S.