Convergent adaptation of Saccharomyces uvarum to sulfite, an antimicrobial preservative widely used in human-driven fermentations

GUTIÉRREZ MACÍAS L.; GONZÁLEZ FLORES M.; ADAM M.C.; RODRÍGUEZ M.E.; QUEROL A.; BARRIO E.; LOPES C.A.; PÉREZ-TORRADO R.

PLOS GENETICS

PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE

Lugar: San Francisco; Año: 2021

1553-7390

Different species can find convergent solutions to adapt their genome to the same evolutionaryconstraints, although functional convergence promoted by chromosomal rearrangementsin different species has not previously been found. In this work, we discovered thattwo domesticated yeast species, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and Saccharomyces uvarum,acquired chromosomal rearrangements to convergently adapt to the presence of sulfite infermentation environments. We found two new heterologous chromosomal translocations infermentative strains of S. uvarum at the SSU1 locus, involved in sulfite resistance, an antimicrobialadditive widely used in food production. These are convergent events that share similaritieswith other SSU1 locus chromosomal translocations previously described indomesticated S. cerevisiae strains. In S. uvarum, the newly described VIIXVI and XIXVI chromosomaltranslocations generate an overexpression of the SSU1 gene and conferincreased sulfite resistance. This study highlights the relevance of chromosomal rearrangementsto promote the adaptation of yeast to anthropic environments.