Early and diverse lipid consumption by Saccharomyces cerevisiae: an extensive targeted lipidomics approach and new perspectives for managing wine fermentation.

Lipids play pivotal roles in yeast stress resistance, fermentation performance, and aroma formation. While fatty acid and sterol metabolism are documented, the fate of the broader lipidome during wine fermentation has been less investigated. We used targeted lipidomics to investigate lipid consumption kinetics in Chardonnay and Gewürztraminer musts fermented by three Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains (CX9, Fermol, and Finesse). We demonstrate that yeasts consume a broad range of exogenous lipids, including complex lipids like diglycerides and sterol esters, earlier than previously reported. The levels of 66 lipid species changed significantly during fermentation, with 21 species disappearing completely. This decrease was primarily driven by metabolic consumption; however, we also provided direct experimental evidence distinguishing passive adsorption from active uptake. We quantified the functional requirements for lipid uptake in oenological conditions: Free Fatty Acid (FFA) needs were matrix-dependent, whereas the phytosterol average specific consumption rate (6.73 ± 2.48 mg/L/10⁸ cells) was relatively constant across strains and musts. Finally, we observed that lipid consumption profiles were strongly correlated with their initial abundance in the must. Our results demonstrate that yeast lipid demand involves a wider diversity of molecules than previously thought, providing precise metrics to optimize nutrient supplementation strategies and improve yeast strain selection.