Systems biology as a platform for wine yeast strain development

Abstract

Over thousands of years, large numbers of Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains have been inadvertently and deliberately isolated for their desirable winemaking properties. In the latter part of the twentieth century, many of these wine yeast strains were improved using classical genetic approaches such as breeding, mutagenesis, and adaptive evolution, and, in more recent times, recombinant DNA methods. Now we are in the midst of the 'omics revolution, which promises, with the aid of mathematical modelling, a 'complete' understanding of cells in all their complexity. Known as systems biology, this approach will enable strain development with unmatched precision and speed, and facilitate the tailoring of yeast metabolism to meet the ever-increasing demands and preferences of winemakers and consumers. © 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. All rights reserved.