Yeast–insect interactions are one of the most interesting long‐standing relationships whose research has contributed to our understanding of yeast biodiversity and their industrial applications. Although insect‐derived yeast strains are exploited for industrial fermentations, only a limited number of such applications has been documented. The search for novel yeasts from insects is attractive to augment the currently domesticated and commercialized production strains. More specifically, there is potential in tapping the insects native to southern Africa. Southern Africa is home to a disproportionately high fraction of global biodiversity with a cluster of biomes and a broad climate range. This review presents arguments on the roles of the mutualistic relationship between yeasts and insects, the presence of diverse pristine environments and a long history of spontaneous food and beverage fermentations as the potential source of novelty. The review further discusses the recent advances in novelty of industrial strains of insect origin, as well as various ancient and modern‐day industries that could be improved by use yeasts from insect origin. The major focus of the review is on the relationship between insects and yeasts in southern African ecosystems as a potential source of novel industrial yeast strains for modern bioprocesses.

中文翻译：

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南部非洲的酵母与昆虫相互作用：利用酵母的多样性进行现代生物加工

酵母与昆虫的相互作用是最有趣的长期关系之一，其研究有助于我们了解酵母生物多样性及其工业应用。尽管昆虫来源的酵母菌株被用于工业发酵，但此类应用的记录数量有限。从昆虫中寻找新型酵母对于扩大目前驯化和商业化的生产菌株具有吸引力。更具体地说，利用南部非洲本土的昆虫是有潜力的。南部非洲拥有大量生物群落和广泛的气候范围，其生物多样性占全球生物多样性的比例极高。这篇综述提出了关于酵母和昆虫之间的互利关系的作用、多样化的原始环境的存在以及食品和饮料自发发酵作为新颖性的潜在来源的悠久历史的论点。该评论进一步讨论了昆虫来源的工业菌株的新颖性的最新进展，以及可以通过使用昆虫来源的酵母来改进的各种古代和现代工业。该综述的主要重点是南部非洲生态系统中昆虫和酵母之间的关系，作为现代生物过程新型工业酵母菌株的潜在来源。