Enhancing yeast cell viability after dehydration by modification of the lipid profile

In the present study, we analysed metabolite features during the dehydration-rehydration process for different yeast species genetically closely related to S. cerevisiae, in order to determine whether metabolites might play a role in cell viability. We ranked the species S. cerevisiae, S. paradoxus, S. kudriavzevii, L. kluyveri, N. castellii, S. mikatae, S. bayanus, and S. servazzii according to their viability rate after the dehydration-rehydration process, and showed that desiccation tolerance across the species did not correlate with the intracellular content of trehalose or glycogen. Cell lipid composition was also investigated during this process, to see whether the content of triacylglycerols and phosphatidylcholine showed significant variations across the species. The increase of phosphatidylcholine level increase in both S. paradoxus and S. bayanus cells grown in supplemented media enhanced both their cell viability after stress imposition and lipid storage.