Yeast alcohol acetyltransferases form an amazingly broad range of flavour-active esters

摘要

Flavour-active esters make an important contribution to the fruity aroma of fermented beverages. These volatiles are produced by fermenting yeast cells. The enzymes involved in Saccharomyces cerevisiae ester synthesis are alcohol-acetyltransferases. To compare the roles of these proteins in volatile ester production, the most important estersynthase Atf1p and its homologues were deleted or overexpressed and the concentration of a broad range of different esters was measured. The results showed that Atf1p has a low specificity towards different alcohols and thiols. This observation possibly indicates that volatile esters may just be sideproducts of the physiologically relevant reaction.