THE FUTURE OF FERMENTATION: THE ROLE OF SYNTHETIC YEAST IN WINEMAKING – My First Piece for Spirited Magazine

This week I’d like to share with you my first piece for Spirited Magazine.  In the piece, I explore advancements in yeast DNA technology and how synthetic yeast research might one

day influence how wine is made. Below is the first paragraph of that article, plus the headings of each section covered in that article, as well as the full list of sources I used to write the piece.

Please click on this link (or the link below) to read the entire article over at Spirited Magazine.

---

“The wine industry is constantly evolving to address the challenges of grape growing and winemaking, as well as respond to a continually changing market. An industry that marries art and science, wine plays a balancing act between tradition and scientific advancement. One of the newest discoveries with the potential to spark innovation within the industry is DNA and synthetic biology.”

Sections covered include:

Studying Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Yeast 2.0

Creating the “perfect yeast”

Raspberry Chardonnay

The Commercial Marketplace

Preparing for the Future

Full list of sources for information in the article:

Jagtap, U.B., Jadhav, J.P., Bapat, V.A., and Pretorius, I.S. 2017. Synthetic biology stretching the realms of possibility in wine yeast research. International Journal of Food Microbiology 252: 24-34. (*paywall*)

Pretorius, I.S. 2017. Synthetic genome engineering forging new frontiers for wine yeast. Critical Reviews in Biotechnology 37(1): 112-136. (open access/free)

Pretorius, I.S. 2017. Solving yeast jigsaw puzzles over a glass of wine. EMBO Reports 18: 1875-1884. (open access/free)

Lee, D., Lloyd, N.D.R., Pretorius, I.S., and Borneman, A.R. 2016. Heterologous production of raspberry ketone in the wine yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae via pathway engineering and synthetic enzyme function. Microbial Cell Factories 15: 49. (open access/free)

Pretorius, I.S. 2016. Conducting wine symphonics with the aid of yeast genomics. Beverages 2(4): 36. (open access/free)

Kutyna, D.R., Varela, C., Henschke, P.A., Chambers, P.J., and Stanley, G.A. 2010. Microbiological approaches to lowering ethanol concentrations in wine. Trends in Food Science & Technology 21(6): 293-302. (*paywall*)

Swiegers, J.H., Capone, D.L., Pardon, K.H., Elsey, G.M., Sefton, M.A., Francis, I.L., and Pretorius, I.S. 2007. Engineering volatile thiol release in Saccharomyces cerevisiae for improved wine aroma. Yeast 24(7): 561-574. (open access/free)

Lilly, M., Bauer, F.F., Lambrechts, M.G., Swiegers, J.H., Cozzolino, D., and Pretorius, I.S. 2006. The effect of increased yeast alcohol acetyltransferase and esterase activity on the flavour profiles of wine and distillates. Yeast 23(9): 641-659. (open access/free)

Synthetic Yeast 2.0 project website

——————————————————————————-

Read the rest of the article here at Spirited Magazine.