Insights into intraspecific diversity of central carbon metabolites in Saccharomyces cerevisiae during wine fermentation

Abstract

Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a major actor in winemaking that converts sugars from the grape must into ethanol and CO2 with outstanding efficiency. Primary metabolites produced during fermentation have a great importance in wine. While ethanol content contributes to the overall profile, other metabolites like glycerol, succinate, etc., also have significant impacts, even when present in lower concentrations. S. cerevisiae is known for its great genetic diversity that is related to its natural or technological environment. However, its range of metabolic diversity which can be exploited to enhance wine quality depends on the pathway considered. Our experiment assessed the diversity of primary metabolites production in a set of 51 S. cerevisiae strains from various genetic backgrounds. Results pointed out great yield differences depending on the metabolite considered, with ethanol having the least variation. A negative correlation between ethanol and glycerol was observed, confirming glycerol synthesis as a suitable lever to reduce ethanol yield. Genetic groups were linked to specific metabolic yields such as -ketoglutarate or acetate. This research highlights the potential of using natural yeast diversity in winemaking and provides detailed data set on metabolite production of well known (ethanol, glycerol, acetate) or little-known (lactate) primary metabolites production.