Journal Article

Winemaking and Bioprocesses Strongly Shaped the Genetic Diversity of the Ubiquitous Yeast Torulaspora delbrueckii

Panfili, Aurélie, Bely, Marina, Chasseriaud, Laura, Salin, Franck, Marullo, Philippe, Delcamp, Adline, Albertin, Warren, Comte, Guillaume

2014

Overview

The yeast Torulaspora delbrueckii is associated with several human activities including oenology, bakery, distillery, dairy industry, etc. In addition to its biotechnological applications, T. delbrueckii is frequently isolated in natural environments (plant, soil, insect). T. delbrueckii is thus a remarkable ubiquitous yeast species with both wild and anthropic habitats, and appears to be a perfect yeast model to search for evidence of human domestication. For that purpose, we developed eight microsatellite markers that were used for the genotyping of 110 strains from various substrates and geographical origins. Microsatellite analysis showed four genetic clusters: two groups contained most nature strains from Old World and Americas respectively, and two clusters were associated with winemaking and other bioprocesses. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) confirmed that human activities significantly shaped the genetic variability of T. delbrueckii species. Natural isolates are differentiated on the basis of geographical localisation, as expected for wild population. The domestication of T. delbrueckii probably dates back to the Roman Empire for winemaking (∼ 1900 years ago), and to the Neolithic era for bioprocesses (∼ 4000 years ago). Microsatellite analysis also provided valuable data regarding the life-cycle of the species, suggesting a mostly diploid homothallic life. In addition to population genetics and ecological studies, the microsatellite tool will be particularly useful for further biotechnological development of T. delbrueckii strains for winemaking and other bioprocesses.

• Publisher: Public Library of Science,Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subject: Africa / Americas / Analysis / Asia / Baking yeast / Biological diversity / Biology and Life Sciences / Biotechnology / Bread / Chemical and Process Engineering / Cluster analysis / Dairy industry / Dairy products / DNA, Fungal - genetics / Domestication / Ecological monitoring / Ecological studies / Ecology and Environmental Sciences / Engineering Sciences / Europe / Evolution / Food / Food engineering / Food Microbiology / Fruits / Genetic aspects / Genetic diversity / Genetic markers / Genetic variability / Genetic Variation / Genetics / Genotyping / Genotyping Techniques / Geographical distribution / History, Ancient / Humans / Inbreeding / Industrial Microbiology - history / Industrial Microbiology - methods / Insects / Life cycle analysis / Life Sciences / Microsatellite Repeats / Microsatellites / Natural environment / Physiological aspects / Ploidies / Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length / Population genetics / Population studies / Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction - methods / Roman World - history / Saccharomyces / Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Species / Species Specificity / Stone Age / Strains (organisms) / Substrates / Torulaspora - classification / Torulaspora - genetics / Torulaspora - growth & development / Variance analysis / Vitis - microbiology / Wine / Wine and wine making / Yeast / Yeast fungi