Genetic Transformation of the Yeast Dekkera/Brettanomyces bruxellensis with Non-Homologous DNA

Yeast Dekkera/Brettanomyces bruxellensis is probably the most common contaminant in wineries and ethanol production processes. The considerable economic losses caused by this yeast, but also its ability to produce and tolerate high ethanol concentrations, make it an attractive subject for research with potential for industrial applications. Unfortunately, efforts to understand the biology of D. bruxellensis and facilitate its broader use in industry are hampered by the lack of adequate procedures for delivery of exogenous DNA into this organism. Here we describe the development of transformation protocols (spheroplast transformation, LiAc/PEG method, and electroporation) and report the first genetic transformation of yeast D. bruxellensis. A linear heterologous DNA fragment carrying the kanMX4 sequence was used for transformation, which allowed transformants to be selected on plates containing geneticin. We found the spheroplast transformation method using 1M sorbitol as osmotic stabilizer to be inappropriate because sorbitol strikingly decreases the plating efficiency of both D. bruxellensis spheroplast and intact cells. However, we managed to modify the LiAc/PEG transformation method and electroporation to accommodate D. bruxellensis transformation, achieving efficiencies of 0.6-16 and 10-20 transformants/${\mu}g$ DNA, respectively. The stability of the transformants ranged from 93.6% to 100%. All putative transformants were analyzed by Southern blot using the kanMX4 sequence as a hybridization probe, which confirmed that the transforming DNA fragment had integrated into the genome. The results of the molecular analysis were consistent with the expected illegitimate integration of a heterologous transforming fragment.