PRODUCTION OF HIGH-LEVELS OF ACETOIN IN SACCHAROMYCES-CEREVISIAE WINEYEASTS IS A RECESSIVE TRAIT

A genetic study of acetoin production was performed on wild wine yeast strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae producing different amounts of th e compound. By using differences found in these strains as source of g enetic variability, it was found that crosses between high and low ace toin producing strains yielded the low level in the hybrids, indicatin g the low production as a dominant trait. Tetrad analysis showed that high vs low acetoin production is segregated as a single gene.