GENOME-WIDE MONITORING OF WINE YEAST GENE EXPRESSION DURING ALCOHOLIC FERMENTATION

The transcriptome of a wine yeast was monitored throughout an alcoholic fermenta- tion goder conditions mimicking an enological environment. Major changes in gene expression occurred during fermentation, atTecting more than 2000 genes, as the yeast adapted to changing nutritional, environmental and physiological conditions. The genes of many pathways are regulated in a highly coordinated manner, and genes involved in the key metabolic pathways of fermentation are strongly expressed. We showed that, during fermentation of a synthetic medium mimicking a natural must in which growth arrest was caused by nitrogen exhaustion, entry into the station- ary phase triggered major transcriptional reprogramming. Many TOR target genes involved in nitrogen utilization or other fonctions are induced at this stage, suggest- ing that this signalling pathway plays a critical role in changes in gene expression in response to nitrogen depletion. Entry into stationary phase is a key physiological event and is followed by a general stress response. The superimposition of multiple stresses, including starvation and ethanol stress, gives rise to a unique stress response, involving hundreds of genes encoding proteins involved in varions cellular processes, many of unknown fonction. Copyright @ 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. (We advise you to read the entire article. Original title:”GENOME-WIDE MONITORING OF WINE YEAST GENE EXPRESSION DURING ALCOHOLIC FERMENTATION)