Thiol release improvement in Saccharomyces cerevisiae oenological strains by CRISPR/Cas9-based IRC7 molecular cisgenesis

This work demonstrates that targeted IRC7 gene editing via CRISPR/Cas9 is a precise and efficient strategy to enhance thiol production in oenological yeasts, without compromising fermentative behavior or aromatic identity. Importantly, although the strains are formally GMOs, the modification mimics natural allelic variation. Our findings provide a foundation for developing next-generation wine yeasts optimized for high-aroma varietal wines and support the broader application of genome editing in fermentation biotechnology.