A flavor compound called phenylethyl acetate imparts a hint of rose or honey to wherever it’s found — a dab of perfume, a sip of wine, a slug of beer. Microbiologists have used genetic mapping to identify, for the first time, specific yeast genes that produce higher levels of this aroma in alcoholic beverages. The new finding joins other recent work connecting genes to flavors in wines and beers, and may be used to grow yeasts that produce new flavors.
