Phenotypic analysis of mutant and overexpressing strains of lipid metabolism genes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae: Implication in growth at low temperatures

The growing demand for wines with a more pronounced aromatic profile calls for low temperature alcoholic fermentations (10–15 °C). However, there are certain drawbacks to low temperature fermentations such as reduced growth rate, long lag phase and sluggish or stuck fermentations. The lipid metabolism of Saccharomyces cerevisiae plays a central role in low temperature adaptation. The aim of this study was to detect lipid metabolism genes involved in cold adaptation. To do so, we analyzed the growth of knockouts in phospholipids, sterols and sphingolipids, from the EUROSCARF collection S. cerevisiae BY4742 strain at low and optimal temperatures. Growth rate of these knockouts, compared with the control, enabled us to identify the genes involved, which were also deleted or overexpressed in a derivative haploid of a commercial wine strain. We identified genes involved in the phospholipid (PSD1 and OPI3), sterol (ERG3 and IDI1) and sphingolipid (LCB3) pathways, whose deletion strongly impaired growth at low temperature and whose overexpression reduced generation or division time by almost half. Our study also reveals many phenotypic differences between the laboratory strain and the commercial wine yeast strain, showing the importance of constructing mutant and overexpressing strains in both genetic backgrounds. The phenotypic differences in the mutant and overexpressing strains were correlated with changes in their lipid composition.

► Lipid metabolism genes involved in yeast cold adaptation have been identified.
► Mutant and overexpressing strains of lipid genes were constructed in a wine yeast.
► Some mutant of these lipid genes showed an impaired growth at low temperature.
► The overexpression of some of these lipid genes reduced generation time in cold.
► Growth of lipid mutant strains was correlated with changes in their lipid composition.