Nature：酵母菌株基因图谱助酿美酒

专题：Nature报道
英国研究人员成功绘制出几十种用于酿酒、制作面食和生物燃料的酵母菌株基因图谱。这一研究成果有望应用于酿酒等工业，也可为人类基因图谱绘制提供借鉴。
路透社11日报道，英国诺丁汉大学教授埃德·路易斯和他的同事以世界各地酵母菌株为研究对象，绘制出其中70多种的基因图谱。
路易斯说，酿酒商可以据此选取优质酵母菌株，酿造更多口味的啤酒和葡萄酒，延长酒开盖后的保质期。
酵母基因与人体基因存在诸多类似之处，也有许多变种，一直用于癌症、衰老和疾病研究。因此这一成果对人体基因研究具有参考价值。路易斯说，研究人员可以根据酵母基因编制计算机软件，用于扫描更为复杂的人体基因。
这项研究成果发表在最新一期的英国《自然》杂志上。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推荐原始出处：
Nature advance online publication 11 February 2009 doi:10.1038/nature07743
Population genomics of domestic and wild yeasts
Gianni Liti1,9, David M. Carter2,9, Alan M. Moses2,3, Jonas Warringer4, Leopold Parts2, Stephen A. James5, Robert P. Davey5, Ian N. Roberts5, Austin Burt6, Vassiliki Koufopanou6, Isheng J. Tsai6, Casey M. Bergman7, Douda Bensasson7, Michael J. T. O'Kelly8, Alexander van Oudenaarden8, David B. H. Barton1, Elizabeth Bailes1, Alex N. Nguyen3, Matthew Jones2, Michael A. Quail2, Ian Goodhead2,10, Sarah Sims2, Frances Smith2, Anders Blomberg4, Richard Durbin2,9 & Edward J. Louis1,9
1 Institute of Genetics, Queen's Medical Centre, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2UH, UK2 Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1HH, UK3 Department of Cell & Systems Biology, University of Toronto, Ontario M5S 2J4, Canada4 Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Lundberg Laboratory, University of Gothenburg, Medicinaregatan 9c, 41390 Gothenburg, Sweden5 National Collection of Yeast Cultures, Institute of Food Research, Norwich Research Park, Colney, Norwich NR4 7UA, UK6 Division of Biology, Imperial College London, Silwood Park, Ascot SL5 7PY, UK7 Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PT, UK8 Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA9 These authors contributed equally to this work.10 Present address: School of Biological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool LG9 3BX, UK.
Since the completion of the genome sequence of Saccharomyces cerevisiae in 1996 (refs 1, 2), there has been a large increase in complete genome sequences, accompanied by great advances in our understanding of genome evolution. Although little is known about the natural and life histories of yeasts in the wild, there are an increasing number of studies looking at ecological and geographic distributions3, 4, population structure5, 6, 7, 8 and sexual versus asexual reproduction9, 10. Less well understood at the whole genome level are the evolutionary processes acting within populations and species that lead to adaptation to different environments, phenotypic differences and reproductive isolation. Here we present one- to fourfold or more coverage of the genome sequences of over seventy isolates of the baker's yeast S. cerevisiae and its closest relative, Saccharomyces paradoxus. We examine variation in gene content, single nucleotide polymorphisms, nucleotide insertions and deletions, copy numbers and transposable elements. We find that phenotypic variation broadly correlates with global genome-wide phylogenetic relationships. S. paradoxus populations are well delineated along geographic boundaries, whereas the variation among worldwide S. cerevisiae isolates shows less differentiation and is comparable to a single S. paradoxus population. Rather than one or two domestication events leading to the extant baker's yeasts, the population structure of S. cerevisiae consists of a few well-defined, geographically isolated lineages and many different mosaics of these lineages, supporting the idea that human influence provided the opportunity for cross-breeding and production of new combinations of pre-existing variations.