title: Enhancing the natural folate level in wine using bioengineering and stabilization strategies.
abstract: Folate deficiency is linked to many diseases, some of which may have higher probability in individuals with alcohol-induced alterations in one-carbon metabolism. Our study shows that folate content in commercial wine is not related to white or red varieties, but associated with the yeast that is used to produce the wine. The stability of folate in these wines, once opened for consumption, did not correlate with total phenolic or sulfite content. In addition, we employed yeast bioengineering to fortify wine with folate. We confirmed by overexpression that FOL2 was the key gene encoding the rate-limiting step of folate biosynthesis in wine yeast. In this study, we also show that overexpression of other folate biosynthesis genes, including ABZ1, ABZ2, DFR1, FOL1 and FOL3, had no effect on folate levels in wine. Ensuring stability of the increased natural folate in all wines was achieved by the addition of ascorbate.
authors.affiliation: Food, Nutrition and Health Centre, University of British Columbia, 2205 East Mall, Vancouver, B.C. V6T 1Z4, Canada.
authors.forename: Yazheng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Wine Research Centre, University of British Columbia, 2205 East Mall, Vancouver, B.C. V6T 1Z4, Canada.
authors.forename: Christopher J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Walkey
authors.affiliation: Food, Nutrition and Health Centre, University of British Columbia, 2205 East Mall, Vancouver, B.C. V6T 1Z4, Canada.
authors.forename: Timothy J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Green
authors.affiliation: Wine Research Centre, University of British Columbia, 2205 East Mall, Vancouver, B.C. V6T 1Z4, Canada.
authors.forename: Hennie J J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: van Vuuren
authors.affiliation: Food, Nutrition and Health Centre, University of British Columbia, 2205 East Mall, Vancouver, B.C. V6T 1Z4, Canada. Electronic address: ddkitts@mail.ubc.ca.
authors.forename: David D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Kitts
mesh_terms: D057005:Bioengineering / Q000379:methods*; D005492:Folic Acid / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D014920:Wine / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D005492:Folic Acid
keywords: Bioengineering; Folate; Stability; Wine; Yeast