Improvement of fermentation ability under baking-associated stress conditions by altering the POG1 gene expression in baker's yeast

• We constructed diploid baker's yeast strains in which the POG1 gene expression was altered.
• The strains showed higher fermentation abilities than those in the wild-type strain under baking-associated stress conditions.
• Control of the POG1 gene expression level is a novel breeding method for baker's yeast.

During the bread-making process, yeast cells are exposed to many types of baking-associated stress. There is thus a demand within the baking industry for yeast strains with high fermentation abilities under these stress conditions. The POG1 gene, encoding a putative transcription factor involved in cell cycle regulation, is a multicopy suppressor of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae E3 ubiquitin ligase Rsp5 mutant. The pog1 mutant is sensitive to various stresses. Our results suggested that the POG1 gene is involved in stress tolerance in yeast cells. In this study, we showed that overexpression of the POG1 gene in baker's yeast conferred increased fermentation ability in high-sucrose-containing dough, which is used for sweet dough baking. Furthermore, deletion of the POG1 gene drastically increased the fermentation ability in bread dough after freeze–thaw stress, which would be a useful characteristic for frozen dough baking. Thus, the engineering of yeast strains to control the POG1 gene expression level would be a novel method for molecular breeding of baker's yeast.