Characteristics of the high malic acid production mechanism in Saccharomyces cerevisiae sake yeast strain No. 28

• Published in: Journal of bioscience and bioengineering 2012-09, Vol.114 (3), p.281-285
• Main Authors: Nakayama, Shunichi, Tabata, Ken, Oba, Takahiro, Kusumoto, Kenichi, Mitsuiki, Shinji, Kadokura, Toshimori, Nakazato, Atsumi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Biotechnology; Cell Respiration - drug effects; Enzymes; Extracellular Space - chemistry; Extracellular Space - drug effects; Extracellular Space - metabolism; Fermentation - drug effects; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; glucose; Glucose - metabolism; Glucose - pharmacology; Glucose repression; Malates - metabolism; Malic acid; Mitochondria; Mitochondria - drug effects; Mitochondria - metabolism; Saccharomyces cerevisiae; Saccharomyces cerevisiae - classification; Saccharomyces cerevisiae - drug effects; Saccharomyces cerevisiae - enzymology; Saccharomyces cerevisiae - metabolism; sake; Sake yeast; Wine - microbiology; yeasts
• ISSN: 1389-1723; 1347-4421
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jbiosc.2012.04.003

We characterized a high malic acid production mechanism in sake yeast strain No. 28. No considerable differences in the activity of the enzymes that were involved in malic acid synthesis were observed between strain No. 28 and its parent strain, K1001. However, compared with strain K1001, which actively took up rhodamine 123 during staining, the cells of strain No. 28 were only lightly stained, even when cultured in high glucose concentrations. In addition, malic acid production by the respiratory-deficient strain of K1001 was 2.5-fold higher than that of the wild-type K1001 and wild-type No. 28. The findings of this study demonstrated that the high malic acid production by strain No. 28 is attributed to the suppression of mitochondrial activity.