Yeast diversity and native vigor for flavor phenotypes

• Flavor traits matter most for yeast in food biotechnology and winemaking.
• Increasing strain diversity will increase flavor complexity of wine.
• Manipulating primary metabolic pathways has a negative impact on flavor compounds.
• The Yeast Flavor Diversity Screening method will impact upon food biotechnology.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the yeast used widely for beer, bread, cider, and wine production, is the most resourceful eukaryotic model used for genetic engineering. A typical concern about using engineered yeasts for food production might be negative consumer perception of genetically modified organisms. However, we believe the true pitfall of using genetically modified yeasts is their limited capacity to either refine or improve the sensory properties of fermented foods under real production conditions. Alternatively, yeast diversity screening to improve the aroma and flavors could offer groundbreaking opportunities in food biotechnology. We propose a ‘Yeast Flavor Diversity Screening’ strategy which integrates knowledge from sensory analysis and natural whole-genome evolution with information about flavor metabolic networks and their regulation.