Flavour formation in fungi: characterisation of KlAtf, the Kluyveromyces lactis orthologue of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae alcohol acetyltransferases Atf1 and Atf2

Volatile aroma-active esters are responsible for the fruity character of fermented alcoholic beverages, such as beer and wine. In the brewers' yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the major part of these esters is formed by two alcohol acetyltransferases, Atf1 and Atf2. In this paper, the existence...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied microbiology and biotechnology 2008-04, Vol.78 (5), p.783-792
Main Authors: Van Laere, Stijn D. M, Saerens, Sofie M. G, Verstrepen, Kevin J, Van Dijck, Patrick, Thevelein, Johan M, Delvaux, Freddy R
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acetyltransferases - chemistry
Acetyltransferases - genetics
Acetyltransferases - metabolism
Alcohol
Amino Acid Sequence
Aroma formation
Ascomycota - chemistry
Ascomycota - classification
Ascomycota - enzymology
Ascomycota - genetics
Beer
Beverages
Biotechnologically Relevant Enzymes and Proteins
Biotechnology
Candida glabrata
Cloning
E coli
Enzymes
esters
Esters - analysis
Esters - metabolism
Fermentation
Fungal Proteins - chemistry
Fungal Proteins - genetics
Fungal Proteins - metabolism
Fungi
Gene expression
Genes
Genetic engineering
Genomics
Isoamyl acetate
Kluyveromyces - enzymology
Kluyveromyces - genetics
Kluyveromyces - metabolism
Kluyveromyces lactis
Kluyveromyces marxianus var. lactis
Kluyveromyces waltii
Life Sciences
Microbial Genetics and Genomics
Microbiology
Molecular Sequence Data
Phylogeny
Plasmids
Proteins
Proteins - chemistry
Proteins - genetics
Proteins - metabolism
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Saccharomyces cerevisiae - chemistry
Saccharomyces cerevisiae - enzymology
Saccharomyces cerevisiae - genetics
Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins - chemistry
Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins - genetics
Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins - metabolism
Sequence Alignment
Studies
Vitaceae
Yeast
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Summary:Volatile aroma-active esters are responsible for the fruity character of fermented alcoholic beverages, such as beer and wine. In the brewers' yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the major part of these esters is formed by two alcohol acetyltransferases, Atf1 and Atf2. In this paper, the existence of orthologues of these S. cerevisiae alcohol acetyltransferases in several ascomycetous fungi was investigated. Bioinformatic analysis of sequenced fungal genomes revealed the presence of multiple orthologues. The Saccharomyces sensu stricto yeasts all have two genes coding for orthologues. More distantly related fungi like Saccharomyces castelii, Candida glabrata, Kluyveromyces waltii and Kluyveromyces lactis have only one orthologue in their genome. The homology between the identified proteins and the S. cerevisiae alcohol acetyltransferases suggests a role for these orthologues in the aroma-active ester formation. To verify this, the K. lactis orthologue KlAtf was cloned and expressed in S. cerevisiae. Gas chromatographic analysis of small-scale fermentations with the transformant strains showed that, while S. cerevisiae ATF1 overexpression resulted in a substantial increase in acetate ester levels, S. cerevisiae ATF2 and K. lactis ATF overexpression only caused a moderate increase in acetate esters. This study is the first report of the presence of an ester synthesis gene in K. lactis.
ISSN:0175-7598
1432-0614
DOI:10.1007/s00253-008-1366-9