Specific antioxidant enzymes are involved in the freeze-thawing response of industrial baker's yeasts

Abstract

In this study, the biochemical basis of resistance to slow freezing and thawing (F-T) stress was explored in two baker yeast industrial strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae that presented differential tolerance to freezing in order to be in the frozen bakery industry. Strain Y8, used commercially in sweet baking doughs, exhibited greater stress tolerance than Y9, a strain employed in regular doughs. Survival of Y8 was higher than that of Y9 (30% vs 12%) after F-T or other reactive oxygen species (ROS) inducing stresses compared to their non-stressed controls. The superior F-T tolerance of Y8 was related to its lower ROS accumulation capacity, determined by fluorometry in cell-free extracts and in vivo, by fluorescence microscopy upon F-T, being Y8 ROS accumulation 2-fold lower than that of Y9. That, in turn, could be positively associated with Y8’s higher constitutive activities of cytosolic catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase by a significant activation (25%) of Y8 CAT after F-T. That would complement the protective effects of other protectant molecules like trehalose, present at high concentration in this strain.