Sublethal HPH treatment is a sustainable tool that induces autolytic-like processes in the early gene expression of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Sublethal HPH treatments have been demonstrated to impact the technological properties and functions of treated microorganisms by inducing specific enzymes/genes or modulating membrane structures and inducing autolysis. In this work, the early effects of a 100 MPa HPH treatment on the winery starter Saccharomyces cerevisiae ALEAFERM AROM grown in synthetic must were assessed. While there were no differences in cell cultivability during the first 48 h between treated and untreated cells, a reduction in volatile metabolites released by HPH-treated cells during the first 2 h was observed. This reduction was only temporary since after 48 h, volatile molecules reached similar or even higher concentrations compared with the control. Moreover, the gene expression response of HPH-treated cells was evaluated after 1 h of incubation and compared with that of untreated cells. A massive rearrangement of gene expression was observed with the identification of 1220 differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Most of the genes related to energetic metabolic pathways and ribosome structure were downregulated, while genes involved in ribosome maturation, transcription, DNA repair, response to stimuli and stress were upregulated. These findings suggest that HPH induces or promotes an autolytic-like behaviour that can be exploited in winemaking.