ArticleCurrent biology : CB2019
Origin of Lactose Fermentation in Kluyveromyces lactis by Interspecies Transfer of a Neo-functionalized Gene Cluster during Domestication.
Article in Current biology : CB, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 31 papers.
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31 citing papers in PubMed, 82 citations in OpenAlex.
- Evolutionary insights into an ancient fungal transition from land to sea.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Elucidating the Effects of Selenium Enrichment on the Structure and Antioxidant Properties of Selenium-Containing Proteins in Yeast Cells.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Signatures of Innovation and Selection in the Extremotolerant Yeast Kluyveromyces marxianus.Genome biology and evolution · 2026Article
- Whole-Genome Sequencing and Phenotyping Reveal Specific Adaptations of Lachancea thermotolerans to the Winemaking Environment.Molecular ecology · 2025Article
- A Lactose-BasedChem & bio engineering · 2025Article
- Genomic signatures of innovation and selection in the extremotolerant yeastbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Lactose-assimilating yeasts with high fatty acid accumulation uncovered by untargeted bioprospecting.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2025Article
- Correlating sugar transporter expression and activities to identify transporters for an orphan sugar substrate.Applied microbiology and biotechnology · 2024Article
- A unique metabolic gene cluster regulates lactose and galactose metabolism in the yeastApplied and environmental microbiology · 2024Article
- Engineering a high-sugar tolerant strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae for efficient trehalose production using a cell surface display approach.Bioresources and bioprocessing · 2024Article
- Neurospora intermedia from a traditional fermented food enables waste-to-food conversion.Nature microbiology · 2024Article
- Multiple independent losses of crossover interference during yeast evolutionary history.PLoS genetics · 2024Article
- What are the 100 most cited fungal genera?Studies in mycology · 2024Article
- Engineering a carbon source-responsive promoter for improved biosynthesis in the non-conventional yeastMetabolic engineering communications · 2024Article
- Unlocking the genome of the non-sourdough Kazachstania humilis MAW1: insights into inhibitory factors and phenotypic properties.Microbial cell factories · 2024Article
- Article
- Domestication signatures in the non-conventional yeastmSystems · 2024Article
- Natural trait variation across Saccharomycotina species.FEMS yeast research · 2024Review
- Evolution and functional diversification of yeast sugar transporters.Essays in biochemistry · 2023Article
- Genotypic and Phenotypic Diversity ofJournal of fungi (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Humans have used yeasts to make cheese and kefir for millennia, but the ability to ferment the milk sugar lactose is found in only a few yeast species, of which the foremost is Kluyveromyces lactis [1]. Two genes, LAC12 (lactose permease) and LAC4 (lactase), are sufficient for lactose uptake and hydrolysis to glucose and galactose [2]. Here, we show that these genes have a complex evolutionary history in the genus Kluyveromyces that is likely the result of human activity during domestication. We show that the ancestral Lac12 was bifunctional, able to import both lactose and cellobiose into the cell. These disaccharides were then hydrolyzed by Lac4 in the case of lactose or Cel2 in the case of cellobiose. A second cellobiose transporter, Cel1, was also present ancestrally. In the K. lactis lineage, the ancestral LAC12 and LAC4 were lost and a separate upheaval in the sister species K. marxianus resulted in loss of CEL1 and quadruplication of LAC12. One of these LAC12 genes became neofunctionalized to encode an efficient lactose transporter capable of supporting fermentation, specifically in dairy strains of K. marxianus, where it formed a LAC4-LAC12-CEL2 gene cluster, although another remained a cellobiose transporter. Then, the ability to ferment lactose was acquired very recently by K. lactis var. lactis by introgression of LAC12 and LAC4 on a 15-kb subtelomeric region from a dairy strain of K. marxianus. The genomic history of the LAC genes shows that strong selective pressures were imposed on yeasts by early dairy farmers.
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