EFFECTS OF CELLULAR FATTY-ACIDS ON THE FORMATION OF FLAVOR ESTERS BY SAKE YEAST

Various fatty acids, some of which originally do not exist in the cell, were intactly incorporated into cellular lipids, such as triglyceride and phosphatidylcholine, by a saké yeast, Kyokai No. 7 (K-7). Formation of flavor esters, such as isoamyl acetate, was linearly correlated to the melting points of the incorporated fatty acids, ranging from —20°C to 40°C, by semilogarithmic plotting. The relation between isoamyl acetate formation and percentage of linoleic acid in cellular fatty acids was inverse proportion. Clotrimazole stimulated the formation of isoamyl acetate by suppressed K-7 cells grown on linoleic acid. It was ascertained that isoamyl acetate was biosynthesized inside the K-7 cell and excreted outside through cell membranes, and hence it was presumed that the formation of flavor esters by saké yeast was affected by some changes in permeability of cell membranes. © 1979, by the Agricultural Chemical Society of Japan.