We show that the deletion of
ALD6 efficiently reduces acetate production both by wild-type industrial wine yeasts and by engineered strains in which the carbon flux has been strongly shifted towards glycerol. Interestingly, the production of glycerol was increased as a result of the
ALD6 deletion, and this effect was particularly clear when
ALD6 was deleted from
GPD1 strains. The high glycerol production, which in turn results in the production of NAD
+, is surprising, since Ald6p preferably uses NADPH (
11,
36); the deletion of
ALD6 was therefore expected to result in an NADPH shortage. We show here that the redistribution of carbon in the
GPD1 ald6 strains involves mainly acetaldehyde accumulation and increased flux through the acetoin-butanediol pathway (Fig. ), consistent with the limitation of both alcohol dehydrogenase and ACDH reactions. Since the synthesis of acetaldehyde and acetoin from glucose results in a net production of 2 mol NADH and the synthesis of 2,3-butanediol generates 1 mol NADH, glycerol production might be increased to balance this NADH surplus. Indeed, the amount of NADH generated by the surplus of acetaldehyde, acetoin, and 2,3-butanediol in
GPD1 ald6 compared to
GPD1 strains is similar to the amount of NAD
+ generated by the excess of glycerol (data not shown).
An inverse correlation was clearly shown between the ethanol and glycerol yields of the strains (Fig. ). The ethanol yield of the ald6 GPD1 strains was the lowest, 15 to 20% lower than that of the wild type.
While
GPD1 overexpression per se largely affects central metabolism, in particular at the acetaldehyde node (
15,
16,
17,
24), additional changes are triggered by the
ALD6 deletion. The production of acetaldehyde of
ald6 GPD1 strains was higher than that of
GPD1 strains (up to 300 mg/liter instead of 50 to 150 mg/liter) but remained in the upper range of the concentrations found in wine (
28). The concentration of 2,3-butanediol can reach 1.3 g/liter in some wines and is not expected to appreciably affect the sensory qualities of wine. In contrast, acetoin levels higher than the detection threshold (150 mg/liter) are undesirable in table wines (
29). The reduction of acetoin to 2,3-butanediol is catalyzed by the butanediol dehydrogenase Bdh1p, which uses NADH as a preferred cofactor (
9,
10). We show in this study that this reaction was less efficient in
ald6 GPD1 strains than in
GPD1 strains, resulting in the accumulation of considerable amounts of acetoin. Furthermore, the efficiency of this reaction seems to be directly correlated to the amount of glycerol produced. Since the production of 2,3-butanediol from acetoin consumes 1 mol of NADH, acetoin accumulation may therefore be due to the low availability of NADH in
ald6 GPD1 strains, as they produce more glycerol than
GPD1 strains. Alternatively, it is possible that butanediol dehydrogenase becomes rate limiting in
ald6 GPD1 strains.
In summary, these results highlight the great potential of yeast strains overexpressing GPD1 and producing ALD6 for producing low-alcohol wines. An alcohol content at least 2% (vol/vol) lower might be expected in wines produced using a yeast strain overproducing around 20 g/liter glycerol. However, accumulation of acetoin limits the extent to which carbon flux can be diverted to glycerol. Further improvement of these strains requires new efforts to minimize the formation of undesirable compounds, in particular at the acetaldehyde branch point.