Genome Sequence of Potential Eukaryotic Probiotics Saccharomyces Cerevisiae Rey 36-3 Producing Glutathione

Nuruk is a starter for the Korean rice wine Makgeolli. It consists of various microbes such as yeasts, fungi, some lactic acid bacteria. Since Makgeolli has been consumed by Korean for a long time, yeast collected from Nuruk can be safely used as probiotics. In addition, glutathione produced by yeast cells may boost the adaptive immune system and scavenging the intestinal oxidative environment. Two hundred seventy wild yeast strains were collected from Nuruk and the amounts of glutathione in the yeast cells were estimated. The wild S. cerevisiae Rey 36-3 strain was selected among 270 yeast strains for the glutathione production and probiotic uses. We sequenced the S. cerevisiae Rey 36-3 strain using PacBio sequencing platform and obtained the 12-MB near complete genome sequence containing 5,665 predicted genes. The genome annotation revealed 21 genes involved in the glutathione synthesis pathway. The whole genome sequence of the yeast strain will provide useful information to engineer the strain for producing glutathione.