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Sailing the evolutionary landscape of wine yeasts

An international research consortium led by Kiran R. Patil and Paula Jouhten has developed a new method for the experimental evolution of yeasts that allows for the rational improvement of the characteristics of yeasts for oenological use.

The main idea of the work stems from a parallel between the course of biological evolution (in this case on a laboratory scale) and that of sailing upwind. In this case, mathematical genome-scale metabolic models enable the design of the nutrient composition of the evolution medium that maximises the secretion of compounds of interest in the resulting strains.

The ICVV team in the project, Pilar Morales and Ramón González, have collaborated in demonstrating the efficacy of this approach to improve the aromatic composition of wines, including the increase in the production of phenylethanol and its acetate ester, among other volatile molecules.

The article has illustrated the cover of the prestigious journal "Molecular Systems Biology", and is accessible through this link:
https://www.embopress.org/doi/full/10.15252/msb.202210980. The ICVV's participation is part of the project PCI2018-092949 funded by MCIN/AEI /10.13039/501100011033 and co-funded by the European Union (ERA CoBioTech).