Genome Diversity and Evolution in the Budding Yeasts (Saccharomycotina)

Considerable progress in our understanding of yeast genomes and their evolution has been made over the last decade with the sequencing, analysis, and comparisons of numerous species, strains, or isolates of diverse origins. The role played by yeasts in natural environments as well as in artificial manufactures, combined with the importance of some species as model experimental systems sustained this effort. At the same time, their enormous evolutionary diversity (there are yeast species in every subphylum of Dikarya) sparked curiosity but necessitated further efforts to obtain appropriate reference genomes. Today, yeast genomes have been very informative about basic mechanisms of evolution, speciation, hybridization, domestication, as well as about the molecular machineries underlying them. They are also irreplaceable to investigate in detail the complex relationship between genotypes and phenotypes with both theoretical and practical implications. This review examines these questions at two distinct levels offered by the broad evolutionary range of yeasts: inside the best-studied Saccharomyces species complex, and across the entire and diversified subphylum of Saccharomycotina. While obviously revealing evolutionary histories at different scales, data converge to a remarkably coherent picture in which one can estimate the relative importance of intrinsic genome dynamics, including gene birth and loss, vs. horizontal genetic accidents in the making of populations. The facility with which novel yeast genomes can now be studied, combined with the already numerous available reference genomes, offer privileged perspectives to further examine these fundamental biological questions using yeasts both as eukaryotic models and as fungi of practical importance

Telomere Dysfunction Triggers Palindrome Formation Independently of Double-Strand Break Repair Mechanisms.

Inverted chromosome duplications or palindromes are linked with genetic disorders and malignant transformation. They are considered by-products of DNA double-strand break (DSB) repair: the homologous recombination (HR) and the nonhomologous end joining (NHEJ). Palindromes near chromosome ends are often triggered by telomere losses. An important question is to what extent their formation depends upon DSB repair mechanisms. Here we addressed this question using yeast genetics and comparative genomic hybridization. We induced palindrome formation by passaging cells lacking any form of telomere maintenance (telomerase and telomere recombination). Surprisingly, we found that DNA ligase 4, essential for NHEJ, did not make a significant contribution to palindrome formation induced by telomere losses. Moreover RAD51, important for certain HR-derived mechanisms, had little effect. Furthermore RAD52, which is essential for HR in yeast, appeared to decrease the number of palindromes in cells proliferating without telomeres. This study also uncovered an important role for Rev3 and Rev7 (but not for Pol32) subunits of polymerase ζ in the survival of cells undergoing telomere losses and forming palindromes. We propose a model called short-inverted repeat-induced synthesis in which DNA synthesis, rather than DSB repair, drives the inverted duplication triggered by telomere dysfunction

Rif1 and Exo1 regulate the genomic instability following telomere losses

Telomere attrition is linked to cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and aging. This is because telomere losses trigger further genomic modifications, culminating with loss of cell function and malignant transformation. However, factors regulating the transition from cells with short telomeres, to cells with profoundly altered genomes, are little understood. Here, we use budding yeast engineered to lack telomerase and other forms of telomere maintenance, to screen for such factors. We show that initially, different DNA damage checkpoint proteins act together with Exo1 and Mre11 nucleases, to inhibit proliferation of cells undergoing telomere attrition. However, this situation changes when survivors lacking telomeres emerge. Intriguingly, checkpoint pathways become tolerant to loss of telomeres in survivors, yet still alert to new DNA damage. We show that Rif1 is responsible for the checkpoint tolerance and proliferation of these survivors, and that is also important for proliferation of cells with a broken chromosome. In contrast, Exo1 drives extensive genomic modifications in survivors. Thus, the conserved proteins Rif1 and Exo1 are critical for survival and evolution of cells with lost telomeres

New yeasts - new brews: modern approaches to brewing yeast design and development.

The brewing industry is experiencing a period of change and experimentation largely driven by customer demand for product diversity. This has coincided with a greater appreciation of the role of yeast in determining the character of beer and the widespread availability of powerful tools for yeast research. Genome analysis in particular has helped clarify the processes leading to domestication of brewing yeast and has identified domestication signatures that may be exploited for further yeast development. The functional properties of non-conventional yeast (both Saccharomyces and non-Saccharomyces) are being assessed with a view to creating beers with new flavours as well as producing flavoursome non-alcoholic beers. The discovery of the psychrotolerant S. eubayanus has stimulated research on de novo S. cerevisiae x S. eubayanus hybrids for low-temperature lager brewing and has led to renewed interest in the functional importance of hybrid organisms and the mechanisms that determine hybrid genome function and stability. The greater diversity of yeast that can be applied in brewing, along with an improved understanding of yeasts' evolutionary history and biology, is expected have a significant and direct impact on the brewing industry, with potential for improved brewing efficiency, product diversity and, above all, customer satisfaction

Phenotypic characterisation of Saccharomyces spp. yeast for tolerance to stresses encountered during fermentation of lignocellulosic residues to produce bioethanol

Background: During industrial fermentation of lignocellulose residues to produce bioethanol, microorganisms are exposed to a number of factors that influence productivity. These include inhibitory compounds produced by the pre-treatment processes required to release constituent carbohydrates from biomass feed-stocks and during fermentation, exposure of the organisms to stressful conditions. In addition, for lignocellulosic bioethanol production, conversion of both pentose and hexose sugars is a pre-requisite for fermentative organisms for efficient and complete conversion. All these factors are important to maximise industrial efficiency, productivity and profit margins in order to make second-generation bioethanol an economically viable alternative to fossil fuels for future transport needs. Results: The aim of the current study was to assess Saccharomyces yeasts for their capacity to tolerate osmotic, temperature and ethanol stresses and inhibitors that might typically be released during steam explosion of wheat straw. Phenotypic microarray analysis was used to measure tolerance as a function of growth and metabolic activity. Saccharomyces strains analysed in this study displayed natural variation to each stress condition common in bioethanol fermentations. In addition, many strains displayed tolerance to more than one stress, such as inhibitor tolerance combined with fermentation stresses. Conclusions: Our results suggest that this study could identify a potential candidate strain or strains for efficient second generation bioethanol production. Knowledge of the Saccharomyces spp. strains grown in these conditions will aid the development of breeding programmes in order to generate more efficient strains for industrial fermentations

A High-Definition View of Functional Genetic Variation from Natural Yeast Genomes

The question of how genetic variation in a population influences phenotypic variation and evolution is of major importance in modern biology. Yet much is still unknown about the relative functional importance of different forms of genome variation and how they are shaped by evolutionary processes. Here we address these questions by population level sequencing of 42 strains from the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and its closest relative S. paradoxus. We find that genome content variation, in the form of presence or absence as well as copy number of genetic material, is higher within S. cerevisiae than within S. paradoxus, despite genetic distances as measured in single-nucleotide polymorphisms being vastly smaller within the former species. This genome content variation, as well as loss-of-function variation in the form of premature stop codons and frameshifting indels, is heavily enriched in the subtelomeres, strongly reinforcing the relevance of these regions to functional evolution. Genes affected by these likely functional forms of variation are enriched for functions mediating interaction with the external environment (sugar transport and metabolism, flocculation, metal transport, and metabolism). Our results and analyses provide a comprehensive view of genomic diversity in budding yeast and expose surprising and pronounced differences between the variation within S. cerevisiae and that within S. paradoxus. We also believe that the sequence data and de novo assemblies will constitute a useful resource for further evolutionary and population genomics studies