Microarray studies on lager brewer's yeasts reveal cell status in the process of autolysis

In this work, we performed DNA microarray studies on lager brewer's yeast Saccharomyces pastorianus to investigate changes in gene expression in the process of autolysis. The two strains we used were Qing2 and 5-2. Strain 5-2 is a mutant of Qing2 and autolyzes much more slowly than its parent strain. Four samples of these two strains during different autolysis stages (0% and 15%) were tested using DNA microarray containing > 10,000 yeast's genes. Analysis of genes with the same transcription pattern (up- or down-regulated in both strains) showed that the same 99 genes were up-regulated (transcription levels were increased), and the same 97 genes were down-regulated (transcription levels were decreased) by fivefold or more during autolysis. Genes involved in energy production/utilization, protein anabolism, and stress response were down-regulated. Genes related to cell wall organization and biogenesis, starvation response and DNA damage response were up-regulated. Analysis of genes with opposite transcription patterns (up-regulated in one strain and down-regulated in the other one) showed that 246 genes were up-regulated in 5-2 (autolyzes slowly) and down-regulated in Qing2 (autolyzes rapidly). Another 18 genes had opposite transcription levels, indicating that the strain which autolyzes slowly had better cell vitality despite the same autolysis stage. These findings might further promote the global understanding of autolysis in yeast.