FAS2 Week 3

Gene Info

Name

Standard Name: FAS2

Systematic Name: YPL231W

Name Description: Fatty Acid Synthetase

Why This Gene?

We chose this gene after reading an article that summarized the findings of an interesting study on yeast genes that impart flavor in beer and wine during the brewing process. This particular gene was one of two genes that were identified as producing higher levels of a compound called phenylethyl acetate, which imparts a flavor reminiscent of rose or honey (de Carvalho et al., 2017). FAS2 was one of those two genes; it is responsible for encoding the alpha subunit of fatty acid synthase, an enzyme that is unsurprisingly involved in fatty acid synthesis. We thought it would be interesting to explore this gene as it is also essential for the synthesis of essential fatty acids, such as palmitic acid, which is the most common fatty acid present in eukaryotes.

Acknowledgements

This week, the two partners for this project are Mihir Samdarshi and Jonar Cowan. Both partners worked with each other outside of class to assist each other in finding and synthesizing the necessary information required to complete this assignment.

Except for what is noted above, this individual journal entry was completed by me and not copied from another source.

References

1. Researchers identify the yeast genes behind rose and honeyed flavors in beer and wine (2017, November 7) retrieved 16 September 2019 from https://phys.org/news/2017-11-yeast-genes-rose- honeyed-flavors.html
2. de Carvalho, B. T., Holt, S., Souffriau, B., Brandão, R. L., Foulquié-Moreno, M. R., & Thevelein, J. M. (2017). Identification of novel alleles conferring superior production of rose flavor phenylethyl acetate using polygenic analysis in yeast. MBio, 8(6), e01173-17.