Pectins are a major component of plant cell walls. A wide range of enzymes are known to catalyze pectin degradation by hydrolysis or trans-elimination. These enzymes are produced by plants and various microorganisms such as filamentous fungi, bacteria and yeasts. In the last ten years. yeast pectinases have attracted a great deal of attention from various research groups worldwide as an alternative to fungal pectinases. This review first describes the classification of pectinases and the methods of detecting pectolytic activity. It then describes pectolytic yeasts, focusing primarily on widely studied yeasts such as Saccharomyces and Kluyveromyces but also touching on yeasts living in extreme environments. An additional effort is made to describe the most recent molecular knowledge of yeast pectinase-encoding genes and their regulation. Finally, various studies of potential new industrial applications of yeast pectinases are reported. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.