QTL mapping of volatile compound production in Saccharomyces cerevisiae during alcoholic fermentation

Background: The volatile metabolites produced by Saccharomyces cerevisiae during alcoholic fermentation, which are mainly esters, higher alcohols and organic acids, play a vital role in the quality and perception of fermented beverages, such as wine. Although the metabolic pathways and genes behind yeast fermentative aroma formation are well described, little is known about the genetic mechanisms underlying variations between strains in the production of these aroma compounds. To increase our knowledge about the links between genetic variation and volatile production, we performed quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping using 130 F2-meiotic segregants from two S. cerevisiae wine strains. The segregants were individually genotyped by next-generation sequencing and separately phenotyped during wine fermentation.
Results: Using different QTL mapping strategies, we were able to identify 65 QTLs in the genome, including 55 that influence the formation of 30 volatile secondary metabolites, 1...