Next generation winemakers: Genetic engineering in saccharomyces cerevisiae for trendy challenges

Abstract

The most famous yeast of all times, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, has been used by humankind for at least 8000 years, to produce bread, beer and wine, even without knowing about its existence. Only in the last century we have been fully aware of the amazing power of this yeast not only for ancient uses but also for biotechnology purposes. In the last decades, wine culture is becoming more and more demanding all over the world. By applying a powerful biotechnological tool as genetic engineering in S. cerevisiae, new horizons appear to develop fresh, improved or modified wine characteristics, properties, flavors, fragrances or production processes, to fulfill an increasingly sophisticated market that moves around 31.4 billion € per year.