Growth Temperature Exerts Differential Physiological and Transcriptional Responses in Laboratory and Wine Strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Abstract

Laboratory strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae have been widely used as a model for studying eukaryotic cells and mapping the molecular mechanisms of many different human diseases. Industrial wine yeasts, on the other hand, have been selected on the basis of their adaptation to stringent environmental conditions and the organoleptic properties that they confer to wine. Here, we used a two-factor design to study the responses of a standard laboratory strain, CEN.PK113-7D, and an industrial wine yeast strain, EC1118, to growth temperatures of 15°C and 30°C in nitrogen-limited, anaerobic, steady-state chemostat cultures. Physiological characterization revealed that the growth temperature strongly impacted the biomass yield of both strains. Moreover, we found that the wine yeast was better adapted to mobilizing resources for biomass production and that the laboratory yeast exhibited higher fermentation rates. To elucidate mechanistic differences controlling the growth temperature response and underlying adaptive mechanisms between the strains, DNA microarrays and targeted metabolome analysis were used. We identified 1,007 temperature-dependent genes and 473 strain-dependent genes. The transcriptional response was used to identify highly correlated gene expression subnetworks within yeast metabolism. We showed that temperature differences most strongly affect nitrogen metabolism and the heat shock response. A lack of stress response element-mediated gene induction, coupled with reduced trehalose levels, indicated that there was a decreased general stress response at 15°C compared to that at 30°C. Differential responses among strains were centered on sugar uptake, nitrogen metabolism, and expression of genes related to organoleptic properties. Our study provides global insight into how growth temperature affects differential physiological and transcriptional responses in laboratory and wine strains of S. cerevisiae.

Comparative Transcriptomic Approach To Investigate Differences in Wine Yeast Physiology and Metabolism during Fermentation

“…The combination of comparative microarray data sets with existing models of yeast metabolism and interaction networks offers the potential for in silico evaluation of biologically relevant gene expression changes in the context of key areas of metabolism (16,34). In this study, we demonstrate that differences in gene expression patterns between strains can be linked to phenotypic differences and to specific reporter metabolites around which significant metabolic and physiological changes can be grouped.…”

Saccharomyces cerevisiae KNU5377 Stress Response during High-Temperature Ethanol Fermentation

“…It has a long history of use in bakeries to raise dough and in the production of alcoholic beverages; it is used to produce pharmaceuticals such as insulin and for fermenting sugars from rice, wheat, barley, corn, and grape juice (Pizarro et al, 2008). In particular, it has been used as an agent of bioethanol production as well as for wine, bread, beer, and sake fermentation (Belloch et al, 2008).…”

Wine Science in the Omics Era: The Impact of Systems Biology on the Future of Wine Research

“…Several transcriptomic studies have also been published for research conducted with wine yeast strains (Erasmus et al, 2003;Rossignol et al, 2003;Varela et al, 2005;Mendes-Ferreira et al, 2007;Marks et al, 2008;Pizarro et al, 2008;Rossouw & Bauer, 2008). These studies have illuminated the intrinsic genetic and regulatory mechanisms involved in fermentation, and have greatly increased our understanding of this important process.…”

“…These studies have illuminated the intrinsic genetic and regulatory mechanisms involved in fermentation, and have greatly increased our understanding of this important process. For instance, Pizarro et al (2008) showed how growth temperature and nitrogen limitation affects differential physiological and transcriptional responses in both laboratory and wine strains of S. cerevisiae. Nitrogen metabolism was found to be deregulated in the wine yeast (allowing simultaneous uptake of different nitrogen sources), which explains the competitive advantage of wine yeast strains in real wine fermentations.…”