Transcriptomic analysis reveals the metabolic mechanism of patulin by Saccharomyces cerevisiae during fermentation

Abstract Patulin is a mycotoxin produced by Penicillium expansum, that exists in apple and cider, and threatens human health and food safety. Saccharomyces cerevisiae (S. cerevisiae) can inhibit and degrade patulin during cider fermentation. Nonetheless, the specific patulin metabolic mechanism is still unclear. Thus, Illumina RNA-Seq technology was applied in this study to analyze the transcriptome of S. cerevisiae cultured in medium with and without patulin, and the gene expression studied. The results showed that the genes encoding redox reactions (OYE3, GTT2, GPX2), cell-to-drug transmembrane transport (HXT, FLR1, YCF1), and responses to biological stress (Yap1, Msn1) were significantly upregulated. S. cerevisiae can respond to the stress of patulin by increasing the activity of related resistant enzymes, such as aryl-alcohol dehydrogenase, NADPH dehydrogenase 3, and glutathione S-transferase 2, which leads to effective degradation of patulin. The findings of this study explore the degradation mechanism of patulin and provide potential biomarker genes for detecting patulin in cider.