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Transgenic wine yeast technology comes of age: is it time for transgenic wine?

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Abstract

Saccharomyces cerevisiae is the main yeast responsible for alcoholic fermentation of grape juice during wine making. This makes wine strains of this species perfect targets for the improvement of wine technology and quality. Progress in winemaking has been achieved through the use of selected yeast strains, as well as genetic improvement of wine yeast strains through the sexual and pararexual cycles, random mutagenesis and genetic engineering. Development of genetically engineered wine yeasts, their potential application, and factors affecting their commercial viability will be discussed in this review.

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Acknowledgments

Work in the laboratory of the authors is sustained by grants from the Spanish Ministry for Science and Education (AGL2003-01762, AGL2006-02558), and Comunidad de Madrid (S-505/AGR-0153). DGR is the recipient of a fellowship from the Government of The Basque Country (Gobierno Vasco-Eusko Jaurlaritza). We are grateful to anonymous referee, whose comments allowed greatly improving this review.

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  1. Department of Microbiology, Instituto de Fermentaciones Industriales (CSIC), Madrid, Spain

    Eduardo Cebollero, Daniel Gonzalez-Ramos, Laura Tabera & Ramon Gonzalez

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  1. Eduardo Cebollero
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  2. Daniel Gonzalez-Ramos
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  3. Laura Tabera
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  4. Ramon Gonzalez
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Correspondence to Ramon Gonzalez.

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Cebollero, E., Gonzalez-Ramos, D., Tabera, L. et al. Transgenic wine yeast technology comes of age: is it time for transgenic wine?. Biotechnol Lett 29, 191–200 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-006-9236-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-006-9236-y

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