Adaptation of S. cerevisiae to fermentative conditions

The capacity of respiring cultures of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to instantaneously switch to fast alcoholic fermentation upon a transfer to anaerobic sugar-excess conditions is a key characteristic of Saccharomyces cerevisiae in many of its industrial applications. This transition was studied by exposing aerobic glucose-limited chemostat cultures grown at a low specific growth rate to two simultaneous perturbations: oxygen depletion and relief of glucose limitation. This shift towards fully fermentative conditions caused a massive transcriptional response, where one third of all genes within the genome were transcribed differentially. During the first 30 min, most of these changes were driven by relief from glucose limitation. An anaerobic induction response was only observed after the initial response to glucose excess. By comparing this study with public datasets representing dynamic and steady conditions, 14 up-regulated and 11 down-regulated genes were determined to be anaerobiosis specific and can therefore be use as signature transcripts for anaerobicity under dynamic as well as under steady state conditions

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van den Brink J, Daran-Lapujade P, Pronk JT, de Winde JH