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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, April 2007, p. 2486-2490, Vol. 73, No. 8
0099-2240/07/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/AEM.02431-06
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Departamento de Microbiología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Extremadura, 06071 Badajoz, Spain
Received 17 October 2006/ Accepted 13 February 2007
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In S. cerevisiae, genetic instability is associated with a high rate of LOH (3, 9, 14). High genetic instability and LOH in natural wine yeasts during laboratory propagation under nonselective conditions, but not in the common laboratory strains of S. cerevisiae, have been described recently (3, 14). Also, a high LOH has been reported at the URA3 locus in a transgenic wine yeast strain during must fermentation (12). Therefore, in genetically unstable yeasts, the elimination of recessive lethal or deleterious alleles that decrease yeast fitness could occur rapidly in the absence of sporulation. It has even been suggested, therefore, that sporulation is not significant in terms of the evolution of the yeast genome (12).
Even considering that all these phenomena may cause LOH and some "genome renewal," it seems likely that Mortimer's proposal (10) is the major mechanism for LOH in wild populations of genetically stable wine yeasts. In this paper we analyze the occurrence of genome renewal by self spore clone mating during must fermentation. In the study, we used new wine yeast strains with good fermentation performance, high rates of sporulation and spore viability, and appropriate genetic markers to analyze the frequency of mating between the different yeasts living in the same fermenting must.
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/MATa HO/HO SMRR/SMRR [k2+]) is a killer wine yeast (1). SMR10-11DNK (MAT
/MATa HO/HO SMRR/SMRR [k20]) is a nonkiller yeast from SMR10-11D. The haploid laboratory yeast YMR107w (mata ho his3 leu2 met15 ura3 ymr107::G418R) was obtained from EUROSCARF (European Saccharomyces cerevisiae Archive for Functional Analysis). E339 (MAT
/MATa HO/HO ura3-52/ura3-52 ymr107
::G418R/ymr107
::G418R [k20]) is a nonkiller homozygous spore clone from the genetic cross SMR10-11DNK x YMR107w. H77 (MAT
/MATa HO/HO URA3/ura3
0 SMRR/smrS ymr107
::G418R/ILV2 [k20]) is a nonkiller heterozygous hybrid from the cross SMR10-11DNK x E339. All these wine S. cerevisiae strains were developed to provide good fermentation performance, high rates of sporulation and spore viability, and appropriate genetic markers to analyze the frequency of mating between the different yeasts present in the same fermenting must. Standard culture media were used for yeast growth and phenotype tests (6). YEPD agar contained 1% Bacto yeast extract, 2% Bacto peptone, 2% glucose, and 2% Bacto agar. YEPD+G418 is YEPD agar supplemented with G418 (which is the antibiotic Geneticin [Sigma, catalogue number G7034], presented as a concentrated water solution) to a final concentration of 200 µg/ml. Synthetic minimal medium (SD) contained 0.67% yeast nitrogen base (without amino acids but with ammonium sulfate; Difco, Detroit, MI), 2% glucose, and 2% Bacto agar. Uracil (20 mg/liter), L-leucine (30 mg/liter), L-histidine-HCl (20 mg/liter), and L-methionine (20 mg/liter) were added when necessary. SD+SMR is standard SD agar supplemented with sulfometuron (SMR) to a 100-µg/ml final concentration. SMR was prepared in a concentrated dimethyl sulfoxide solution (1%) and added to the medium just before it was poured into petri dishes.
Standard yeast genetic procedures were used for sporulation of cultures and dissection of asci (8). Cells were grown on YEPD plates for 2 days at 30°C, transferred to sporulation plates (1% potassium acetate, 0.1% Bacto yeast extract, 0.05% glucose, 2% Bacto agar), and incubated for 7 to 20 days at 25°C until more than 80% of the cells had sporulated. Twenty-four asci from each yeast were dissected on YEPD plates and incubated for 5 days at 30°C to determine the percentage of viable spores.
Grape must fermentation was performed in 5 ml of sterile white Pardina juice (23°Bx, pH 3.5) supplemented with uracil (20 mg/liter) to facilitate the growth of newly originated homozygous ura3
0/ura3
0 yeasts. Fermentations were conducted at 25°C for up to 20 days without agitation. The degree Brix values were monitored each day to follow the fermentation kinetics. T15 is the time needed to ferment 15% of the total sugars present in the must, and T100 is the time needed to ferment 100% of the total sugars (13). Suitably diluted samples from each fermentation were spread onto YEPD plates to obtain isolated colonies after 2 days at 30°C. The amount of viable yeast (CFU) was determined by colony counting. SMRR and G418R phenotypes were determined by replica plating on SD+SMR and YEPD+G418 media (1, 2).
Analysis of mating of haploid homothallic yeasts from different asci.
SMR10-11DNK and E339 yeasts were used. Forty intact tetrads from each of the two yeasts were placed together on a YEPD plate and mixed with the needle of the micromanipulator. Rapidly, a small piece of the YEPD agar containing the 80-tetrad mix was inoculated into the sterile grape juice. A must fermentation control, inoculated with a mix of 50 µl of SMR10-11DNK and 50 µl of E339 2-day YEPD broth cultures (vegetative cells), was done in parallel. The yeasts with both SMRR and G418R phenotypes must result from mating of haploid homothallic yeasts from different asci.
Analysis of mating of haploid homothallic yeasts from the same spore clone.
The H77 heterozygous hybrid was used (SMRR and G418R genetic markers are strongly linked in trans configuration, i.e., repulsion linkage phase, the distance between the two markers being only 700 bp). Forty intact tetrads from this hybrid were placed together on a YEPD plate and mixed with the needle of the micromanipulator. Rapidly, a small piece of the YEPD agar containing the 40 tetrads was inoculated into the sterile grape juice. A must fermentation control, inoculated with a mix of 50 µl of H77 2-day YEPD broth culture, was done in parallel. The yeasts with both SMRR and G418R phenotypes must result from mating of haploid homothallic yeasts from different spore clones (from the same or different tetrads).
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::G418R/ymr107
::G418R). This mating will yield heterozygous SMRR/G418R diploid strains. Both strains sporulated very well, over 80% of tetrads after 7 days in sporulation media, and the spore viability was higher than 91%. As the control, the same sterile must was inoculated with a mix (1:1) of vegetative cells of the same strains. The fermentation started earlier in the must inoculated with vegetative cells (T15 = 2.6 days) than in that inoculated with the spores (T15 = 4.75) because of the time needed for spore germination, haploid cell mating, and yeast growth. Despite this, both fermentations were properly completed by day 15. No heterozygous SMRR/G418R diploid yeast was detected in the control fermentation, i.e., neither sporulation and mating (genome renewal) nor rare mating was detected. In the tetrad-inoculated fermentation, only 1.5% of the total population corresponded to heterozygous SMRR/G418R diploid yeasts, which appeared the third day after inoculation (Table 1). The frequency of mating between haploid yeasts from spores belonging to different tetrads was thus very low. |
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TABLE 1. Analysis of the frequency of genetic markers during the fermentation of must inoculated with tetrads and vegetative cells of SMR10-11DNK (SMRR) and E339 (G418R) yeastsa
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TABLE 2. Analysis of the frequency of genetic markers during the first fermentation of must inoculated with tetrads and vegetative cells of the H77 [ymr107 ::G418R/ymr107 ILV2(SMRS)/ILV2(SMRR)] hybrida
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TABLE 3. Analysis of the frequency of genetic markers during the second fermentation of must inoculated with tetrads (from a sporulated culture of the yeasts from day 2 of the first fermentation) and vegetative cells of the H77 hybrida
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Given this mating restriction, it is interesting to ask what the mating behavior of homothallic haploid yeasts form the same ascus was. The frequencies of homozygous diploid yeasts from H77 asci (15% G418R/G418R and 13% SMRR/SMRR; Table 2) were lower than would be expected if the mating of the haploid yeast had been fully random (25% for each type) and much lower than would be expected if any frequent self spore clone mating had occurred. This result indicates that there is some restriction on mating between haploid cells from the same ascus, together with a very low frequency of self spore clone mating. This restriction decreases the LOH of the yeast population, maintaining the frequency of heterozygous G418R/SMRR (72%) higher than would be expected assuming fully random mating of the haploid yeasts (50%) or according to the genome renewal proposal (10). We propose that this mating restriction is just the result of chromosome segregation during meiosis and can be explained for H77 as follows. The G418R and SMRR (ILV2) markers are strongly trans linked and far enough away from the chromosome XIII centromere, 63 cM (11), to be considered non-centromere linked (the maximum distance for being considered centromere linked is 50 cM). The locus MAT, which determines the mating type and hence the mating restriction of just-germinated haploid yeasts, is located on chromosome III and is centromere linked, 30 cM (11). In the absence of meiotic crossover between G418R (or SMRR) or MAT and its corresponding centromere, the marker segregations would be as shown in Fig. 1A. As a result, 100% of the new yeasts arising from spore germination and haploid yeast mating would be heterozygous G418R/SMRR. This situation would occur at a frequency of 1 minus the other three possible situations to be explained below, i.e., 1 [(0.5 x 0.7) + (0.5 x 0.3) + (0.5 x 0.3)] = 0.35. If a single crossover occurs only between G418R (or SMRR) and the centromere, the segregations would be as shown in Fig. 1C. As a result, 50% of the new yeasts would be heterozygous G418R/SMRR. This situation would occur at a frequency of 0.5 x 0.7 = 0.35 (frequency of recombination between G418R or SMRR and the centromere) x (frequency of no recombination between MAT and the centromere). Hence, the heterozygous frequency in this situation would be 0.175. If a single crossover occurs only between MAT and the centromere, the segregations would be as shown in Fig. 1B. As a result, 50% of the new yeasts would be heterozygous G418R/SMRR. This situation would occur at a frequency of 0.3 x 0.5 = 0.15 (frequency of recombination between MAT and the centromere) x (frequency of no recombination between G418R or SMRR and the centromere). Hence, the heterozygous frequency in this situation would be 0.075. And finally, if a double crossover occurs between G418R (or SMRR) and MAT and their corresponding centromeres, the segregations would be as shown in Fig. 1D. As a result, either 50% or 100% of the new yeasts would be heterozygous G418R/SMRR, depending on which of the four types of tetrad arises. This situation would occur at a frequency of 0.5 x 0.3 = 0.15 (frequency of recombination between MAT and the centromere) x (frequency of recombination between G418R or SMRR and the centromere). Hence, the heterozygous frequency would be 0.1125. Therefore, the expected total frequency for heterozygous G418R/SMRR is 0.7125, which is very close to the frequency of 0.72 found at the beginning of the first tetrad-inoculated must fermentation (Table 2). Also, the expected frequency of heterozygous yeasts at the beginning of the second must fermentation, inoculated with tetrads from a yeast population containing 15% G418R/G418R, 13% SMRR/SMRR, and 72% G418R/SMRR, is 0.72 x 0.7125 = 0.513, which is very close to the frequency found, 0.54 (day 2, Table 3). That is, LOH in homothallic wine yeast occurs because of the linkage of the locus MAT to the chromosome III centromere, without the need for self spore clone mating (10), mitotic gene conversion (12), or rapid asymmetric LOH due to genetic instability (3, 14). This phenomenon is enough in itself to explain the high level of homozygosity found in natural populations of wine yeasts (10, 13). It will also lead to genome renewal in the population without the need for self spore clone mating. The LOH would be slower for centromere-linked markers than for the non-centromere-linked markers, because the linkage decreases the frequency of newly originated heterozygous yeasts after each round of sporulation and mating (Fig. 1B and C).
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FIG. 1. H77 tetrad formation and spore genotype in the absence of genetic crossover between the locus ILV2 (G418R and SMRR) and the chromosome XIII centromere (A), after a single meiotic crossover between the locus MAT (a and ) and the chromosome III centromere (B), after a single genetic crossover between the locus ILV2 and the chromosome XIII centromere (C), and after double meiotic crossover between the locus ILV2 and the chromosome XIII centromere and between the locus MAT and the chromosome III centromere (D). Chro, chromosome; H, frequency of hybrids.
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In conclusion, sporulation and mating restrictions during must fermentation lead to LOH in homothallic S. cerevisiae strains. Genetically stable wine yeasts tend to be homozygous for most of the genes simply because of the linkage of the locus MAT to the chromosome III centromere, without the need for self spore clone mating, mitotic gene conversion, or rapid asymmetric LOH. Also, the speed of LOH depends on the centromere linkage of each marker, because the stronger this linkage, the lower the frequency of newly originated heterozygous yeast after each round of sporulation and mating.
Published ahead of print on 23 February 2007. ![]()
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