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Engineering pathways for malate degradation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Nature Biotechnology volume 15, pages 253–257 (1997)Cite this article

Abstract

Deacidification of grape musts is crucial for the production of well-balanced wines, especially in colder regions of the world. The major acids in wine are tartaric and malic acid. Saccharomyces cerevisiae cannot degrade malic acid efficiently due to the lack of a malate transporter and the low substrate affinity of its malic enzyme. We have introduced efficient pathways for malate degradation in S. cerevisiae by cloning and expressing the Schizosaccharomyces pombe malate permease (mae1) gene with either the S. pombe malic enzyme (mae2) or Lactococcus lactis malolactic (mleS) gene in this yeast. Under aerobic conditions, the recombinant strain expressing the mae1 and mae2 genes efficiently degraded 8 g/L of malate in a glycerol-ethanol medium within 7 days. The recombinant malolactic strain of S. cerevisiae (mael and mleS genes) fermented 4.5 g/L of malate in a synthetic grape must within 4 days.

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Author notes

  1. Hendrik J.J. van Vuuren: Corresponding author (e-mail: hjjvv@maties.sun.ac.za).

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology and Institute for Biotechnology, University of Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch, 7600, South Africa

    Heinrich Volschenk, Marinda Viljoen, Jandré Grobler, Barbara Petzold, Florian Bauer & Hendrik J.J. van Vuuren

  2. Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, NIG2WI, Canada

    Ron E. Subden

  3. Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, 9 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA, 02142, USA

    Richard A. Young

  4. Faculté d'Oenologie, Université de Bordeaux II, 351 cours de la Libération, 33405, Talence cedex, France

    Aline Lonvaud & Muriel Denayrolles

Authors
  1. Heinrich Volschenk
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  2. Marinda Viljoen
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  3. Jandré Grobler
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  4. Barbara Petzold
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  5. Florian Bauer
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  6. Ron E. Subden
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  7. Richard A. Young
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  8. Aline Lonvaud
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  9. Muriel Denayrolles
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  10. Hendrik J.J. van Vuuren
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Volschenk, H., Viljoen, M., Grobler, J. et al. Engineering pathways for malate degradation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Nat Biotechnol 15, 253–257 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt0397-253

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