Transcriptomic and proteomic approach for understanding the molecular basis of adaptation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to wine fermentation

Throughout alcoholic fermentation, Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells have to cope with several stress conditions that could affect their growth and viability. In addition, the metabolic activity of yeast cells during this process leads to the production of secondary compounds that contribute to the organoleptic properties of the resulting wine. Commercial strains have been selected during the last decades for inoculation into the must to carry out the alcoholic fermentation on the basis of physiological traits, but little is known about the molecular basis of the fermentative behavior of these strains. In this work, we present the first transcriptomic and proteomic comparison between two commercial strains with different fermentative behaviors. Our results indicate that some physiological differences between the fermentative behaviors of these two strains could be related to differences in the mRNA and protein profiles. In this sense, at the level of gene expression, we have found differences related to carbohydrate metabolism, nitrogen catabolite repression, and response to stimuli, among other factors. In addition, we have detected a relative increase in the abundance of proteins involved in stress responses (the heat shock protein Hsp26p, for instance) and in fermentation (in particular, the major cytosolic aldehyde dehydrogenase Ald6p) in the strain with better behavior during vinification. Moreover, in the case of the other strain, higher levels of enzymes required for sulfur metabolism (Cys4p, Hom6p, and Met22p) are observed, which could be related to the production of particular organoleptic compounds or to detoxification processes.