Quorum sensing capability of wine microbial consortium involved in spontaneous fermentation of regional wine production

Abstract

Quorum sensing (QS) is an intercellular communication process in which wine microbial consortium collectively adapts their metabolism by secreting quorum sensing molecules (QSM) into their environment. These QSMs continuously diffuse into the medium until approaching the threshold level, which stimulates the microbial cell population. Moreover, these molecules bind with their target sensory proteins and stimulate the transcription and translation of genes responsible for aromatic alcohol production. The research findings revealed that ARO genes regulate the synthesis of quorum sensing molecules like tyrosol, 2-phenylethanol, and tryptophol. For instance, ARO8, ARO9, and ARO10 present in Saccharomyces cerevisiae are the significant genes regulating the above QSMs and other aromatic alcohols, which determine the organoleptic qualities of wine. Another essential gene that affects the quality of wine is FLO11. Hence, different grape cultivars harbor different types of wine fermenting microbes with unique quorum sensing systems, leading to the unique organoleptic qualities in regional wine. Since we could still find the quorum sensing system of S. cerevisiae, this may open avenues to conduct much research to discover the unique quorum sensing systems of different wine microbes. These findings will lead to novel wine starter cultures with many specific genes developed through recombinant DNA technology. Therefore, this review focuses on quorum sensing of wine microbial consortium involved in the fermentation process of spontaneous wine fermentation through the chemistry of QSMs and how these signaling processes are genetically manipulated. Furthermore, this focus reviews the organoleptic quality development of regional wine products due to different quorum sensing abilities.