ALCOHOL ACETYLTRANSFERASE GENE AND ITS USE

摘要

PURPOSE:To enable production of an alcoholic beverage enriched in an ester flavor by fermenting a saccharide in the presence of a yeast-derived alcohol acetyltransferase exhibiting an acetic acid ester production activity. CONSTITUTION:A plasmid pUc4k containing a G418-resistant gene is cut by using a restriction enzyme Sa1I and the resultant fragment containing the G418- resistant gene is bonded to YATK11 cut by Sa1I to obtain a vector YATK11 for introducing an alcohol acetyltransferase(AATase) gene into sake yeast. After transforming a yeast for production of an alcoholic beverage using the vector YATK11G, the resultant transformant is cultured in a suitable culture medium and the generated AATase is recovered. This AATase exhibits an acetic acid ester production activity through a reaction in which an acetyl group is transferred through an acetyl CoA to alcohol and an alcoholic beverage enriched in an ester flavor can be produced by fermenting a saccharide in the presence of this AATase.