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Novel wine yeast with ARO4 and TYR1 mutations that overproduce ‘floral’ aroma compounds 2-phenylethanol and 2-phenylethyl acetate

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Abstract

It is well established that the choice of yeast used to perform wine fermentation significantly influences the sensory attributes of wines; different yeast species and strains impart different profiles of esters, volatile fatty acids, higher alcohols, and volatile sulphur compounds. Indeed, choice of yeast remains one of the simplest means by which winemakers can modulate the sensory characteristics of wine. Consequently, there are more than 100 commercially available Saccharomyces cerevisiae wine yeast strains available, mostly derived by isolation from vineyards and successful fermentations. Nevertheless, some desirable characteristics such as ‘rose’ and ‘floral’ aromas in wine are not present amongst existing strains. Such aromas can be conferred from the higher alcohol 2-phenylethanol (2-PE) and its acetate ester, 2-phenylethyl acetate (2-PEA). These metabolites of the aromatic amino acid phenylalanine are present at concentrations below their aroma detection thresholds in many wines, so their contribution to wine style is often minimal. To increase the concentration of phenylalanine metabolites, natural and chemically mutagenised populations of a S. cerevisiae wine strain, AWRI796, were exposed to toxic analogues of phenylalanine. Resistant colonies were found to overproduce 2-PE and 2-PEA by up to 20-fold, which resulted in a significant increase in ‘floral’ aroma in pilot-scale white wines. Genome sequencing of these newly developed strains revealed mutations in two genes of the biosynthetic pathway of aromatic amino acids, ARO4 and TYR1, which were demonstrated to be responsible for the 2-PE overproduction phenotype.

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Acknowledgements

The Australian Wine Research Institute (AWRI), a member of the Wine Innovation Cluster in Adelaide, is supported by Australia’s grapegrowers and winemakers through their investment body Wine Australia, with matching funds from the Australian Government. The authors also acknowledge the South Australian Node of Metabolomics Australia which is funded through Bioplatforms Australia Pty Ltd., a National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS), and investment from the South Australian State Government and the AWRI. The sensory panellists and Wes Pearson are thanked for their involvement in the sensory evaluation. We would like to thank Petaluma Winery for donating grapes and Peter Godden for assistance with the winemaking.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Australian Wine Research Institute, PO Box 197, Glen Osmond, SA, 5064, Australia

    Antonio G. Cordente, Mark Solomon, Alex Schulkin, I. Leigh Francis, Alice Barker, Anthony R. Borneman & Christopher D. Curtin

  2. Department of Food Science and Technology, Oregon State University, 100 Wiegand Hall, Corvallis, OR, 97331-6602, USA

    Christopher D. Curtin

  3. MMR Research Worldwide Ltd, 104-110 Crowmarsh Battle Barns, Preston Crowmarsh, Wallingford, Oxfordshire, OX10 6SL, UK

    Alice Barker

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  1. Antonio G. Cordente
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  3. Alex Schulkin
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Correspondence to Antonio G. Cordente.

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Cordente, A.G., Solomon, M., Schulkin, A. et al. Novel wine yeast with ARO4 and TYR1 mutations that overproduce ‘floral’ aroma compounds 2-phenylethanol and 2-phenylethyl acetate. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 102, 5977–5988 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-018-9054-x

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