The effect of chromosomal aneuploidy on the brewing characteristics of brewery yeasts has not been studied. Here we report that chromosomal aneuploidy in sake brewery yeast () leads to the development of favorable brewing characteristics. We found that pyruvate-underproducing sake yeast, which produces less off-flavor diacetyl, is aneuploid and trisomic for chromosomes XI and XIV. To confirm that this phenotype is due to aneuploidy, we obtained 45 haploids with various chromosomal additions and investigated their brewing profiles. A greater number of chromosomes correlated with a decrease in pyruvate production. Especially, sake yeast haploids with extra chromosomes in addition to chromosome XI produced less pyruvate than euploids. Mitochondrion-related metabolites and intracellular oxygen species in chromosome XI aneuploids were higher than those in euploids, and this effect was canceled in their "petite" strains, suggesting that an increase in chromosomes upregulated mitochondrial activity and decreased pyruvate levels. These findings suggested that an increase in chromosome number, including chromosome XI, in sake yeast haploids leads to pyruvate underproduction through the augmentation of mitochondrial activity. This is the first report proposing that aneuploidy in brewery yeasts improves their brewing profile. Chromosomal aneuploidy has not been evaluated in development of sake brewing yeast strains. This study shows the relationship between chromosomal aneuploidy and brewing characteristics of brewery yeast strains. High concentrations of pyruvate during sake storage give rise to α-acetolactate and, in turn, to high concentrations of diacetyl, which is considered an off-flavor. It was demonstrated that pyruvate-underproducing sake yeast is trisomic for chromosome XI and XIV. Furthermore, sake yeast haploids with extra chromosomes produced reduced levels of pyruvate and showed metabolic processes characteristic of increased mitochondrial activity. This novel discovery will enable the selection of favorable brewery yeasts by monitoring the copy numbers of specific chromosomes through a process that does not involve generation/use of genetically modified organisms.

The complex inhibitory effects of inhibitors present in lignocellulose hydrolysate suppress the ethanol fermentation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Although the interactive inhibitory effects play important roles in the actual hydrolysate, few studies have investigated glycolaldehyde, the key inhibitor of hot-compressed water-treated lignocellulose hydrolysate. Given this challenge, we investigated the interactive effects of mixed fermentation inhibitors, including glycolaldehyde. First, we confirmed that glycolaldehyde was the most potent inhibitor in the hydrolysate and exerted interactive inhibitory effects in combination with major inhibitors. Next, through genome-wide analysis and megavariate data modeling, we identified SUMOylation as a novel potential mechanism to overcome the combinational inhibitory effects of fermentation inhibitors. Indeed, overall SUMOylation was increased and Pgk1, which produces an ATP molecule in glycolysis by substrate-level phosphorylation, was SUMOylated and degraded in response to glycolaldehyde. Augmenting the SUMO-dependent ubiquitin system in the ADH1-expressing strain significantly shortened the lag phase of growth, released cells from G2/M arrest, and improved energy status and glucose uptake in the inhibitor-containing medium. In summary, our study was the first to establish SUMOylation as a novel platform for regulating the lag phase caused by complex fermentation inhibitors.