Browsing by Author "Varela, Cristian"

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    Coupling kinetic expressions and metabolic networks for predicting wine Fermentations
    (WILEY, 2007) Pizarro, Francisco; Varela, Cristian; Martabit, Cecilia; Bruno, Claudio; Prez Correa, J. Ricardo; Agosin, Eduardo
    Problematic fermentations are commonplace and cause wine industry producers substantial economic losses through wasted tank capacity and low value final products. Being able to predict such fermentations would enable enologists to take preventive actions. In this study we modeled sugar uptake kinetics and coupled them to a previously developed stoichiometric model, which describes the anaerobic metabolism of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The resulting model was used to predict normal and slow fermentations under winemaking conditions. The effects of fermentation temperature and initial nitrogen concentration were modeled through an efficiency factor incorporated into the sugar uptake expressions. The model required few initial parameters to successfully reproduce glucose, fructose, and ethanol profiles of laboratory and industrial fermentations. Glycerol and biomass profiles were successfully predicted in nitrogen rich cultures. The time normal or slow wine fermentations needed to complete the process was predicted accurately, at different temperatures. Simulations with a model representing a genetically modified yeast fermentation, reproduced qualitatively well literature results regarding the formation of minor compounds involved in wine complexity and aroma. Therefore, the model also proves useful to explore the effects of genetic modifications on fermentation profiles.
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    Differential synthesis of fermentative aroma compounds of two related commercial wine yeast strains
    (ELSEVIER SCI LTD, 2009) Molina, Ana M.; Guadalupe, Victor; Varela, Cristian; Swiegers, Jan H.; Pretorius, Isak S.; Agosin, Eduardo
    The specific impact of the yeast strain on the wine flavour and aroma has not been well characterised yet because this effect is usually combined with other variables during the winemaking. In this study, the contribution to wine flavour of two Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains widely used in wine production, VIN13 and EC1118, was evaluated after fermentation at 15 degrees C. Chemical defined grape juice media fermented with the EC1118 strain showed higher solvent, fatty and pineapple aroma attributes, while that fermented with the VIN13 strain exhibited higher banana, fruity, yeasty and green attributes. Sensorial and chemical analyses evidenced that the production of flavour-active compounds is significantly affected by the yeast strain, as well as by the temperature of fermentation, as shown by comparing the former data with those from fermentations carried out at 28 degrees C under identical culture conditions. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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    Domestication signatures in the non-conventional yeast Lachancea cidri
    (2024) Villarreal, Pablo; O'Donnell, Samuel; Agier, Nicolas; Munoz-Guzman, Felipe; Benavides-Parra, Jose; Urbina, Kami; Pena, Tomas A.; Solomon, Mark; Nespolo, Roberto F.; Fischer, Gilles; Varela, Cristian; Cubillos, Francisco A.
    Evaluating domestication signatures beyond model organisms is essential for a thorough understanding of the genotype-phenotype relationship in wild and human-related environments. Structural variations (SVs) can significantly impact phenotypes playing an important role in the physiological adaptation of species to different niches, including during domestication. A detailed characterization of the fitness consequences of these genomic rearrangements, however, is still limited in non-model systems, largely due to the paucity of direct comparisons between domesticated and wild isolates. Here, we used a combination of sequencing strategies to explore major genomic rearrangements in a Lachancea cidri yeast strain isolated from cider (CBS2950) and compared them to those in eight wild isolates from primary forests. Genomic analysis revealed dozens of SVs, including a large reciprocal translocation (similar to 16 kb and 500 kb) present in the cider strain, but absent from all wild strains. Interestingly, the number of SVs was higher relative to single-nucleotide polymorphisms in the cider strain, suggesting a significant role in the strain's phenotypic variation. The set of SVs identified directly impacts dozens of genes and likely underpins the greater fermentation performance in the L. cidri CBS2950. In addition, the large reciprocal translocation affects a proline permease (PUT4) regulatory region, resulting in higher PUT4 transcript levels, which agrees with higher ethanol tolerance, improved cell growth when using proline, and higher amino acid consumption during fermentation. These results suggest that SVs are responsible for the rapid physiological adaptation of yeast to a human-related environment and demonstrate the key contribution of SVs in adaptive fermentative traits in non-model species.
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    Influence of wine fermentation temperature on the synthesis of yeast-derived volatile aroma compounds
    (2007) Molina, Ana M.; Swiegers, Jan H.; Varela, Cristian; Pretorius, Isak S.; Agosin, Eduardo
    The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae synthesises a variety of volatile aroma compounds during wine fermentation. In this study, the influence of fermentation temperature on (1) the production of yeast-derived aroma compounds and ( 2) the expression of genes involved in aroma compounds' metabolism (ADH1, PDC1, BAT1, BAT2, LEU2, ILV2, ATF1, ATF2, EHT1 and IAH1) was assessed, during the fermentation of a defined must at 15 and 28 C. Higher concentrations of compounds related to fresh and fruity aromas were found at 15 C, while higher concentrations of flowery related aroma compounds were found at 28 C. The formation rates of volatile aroma compounds varied according to growth stage. In addition, linear correlations between the increases in concentration of higher alcohol and their corresponding acetates were obtained. Genes presented different expression profiles at both temperatures, except ILV2, and those involved in common pathways were co-expressed (ADH1, PDC1 and BAT2; and ATF1, EHT1 and IAH1). These results demonstrate that the fermentation temperature plays an important role in the wine final aroma profile, and is therefore an important control parameter to fine-tune wine quality during winemaking.
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    Late Pleistocene-dated divergence between South Hemisphere populations of the non-conventional yeast L. cidri
    (2022) Villarreal, Pablo; Villarroel, Carlos; O'Donnell, Samuel; Agier, Nicolas; Quintero-Galvis, Julian; Pena, Tomas; Nespolo, Roberto; Fischer, Gilles; Varela, Cristian; Cubillos, Francisco
    Most organisms belonging to the Saccharomycotina subphylum have high genetic diversity and a vast repertoire of metabolisms and lifestyles. Lachancea cidri is an ideal yeast model for exploring the interplay between genetics, ecological function and evolution. Lachancea cidri diverged from the Saccharomyces lineage before the whole-genome duplication and is distributed across the South Hemisphere, displaying an important ecological success. We applied phylogenomics to investigate the genetic variation of L. cidri isolates obtained from Australia and South America. Our approach revealed the presence of two main lineages according to their geographic distribution (Aus and SoAm). Estimation of the divergence time suggests that SoAm and Aus lineages diverged near the last glacial maximum event during the Pleistocene (64-8 KYA). Interestingly, we found that the French reference strain is closely related to the Australian strains, with a recent divergence (405-51 YA), likely associated to human movements. Additionally, we identified different lineages within the South American population, revealing that Patagonia contains a similar genetic diversity comparable to that of other lineages in S. cerevisiae. These findings support the idea of a Pleistocene-dated divergence between South Hemisphere lineages, where the Nothofagus and Araucaria ecological niches likely favoured the extensive distribution of L. cidri in Patagonia.