A glimpse of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae responses to NaCl stress

The budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been widely used in fermentation and brewing industries. In industrial fermentation processes, the raw material often attaches certain NaCl or Na+ into bioreactor. High salinity represents an osmotic stress and specific ion toxicity for yeast cell. Protective biochemical reactions range from the synthesis of osmolyte to altered ion transportation, signal transduction, transcriptional response and translational response. This review will focus on responses of the yeast S. cerevisiae and mechanisms of adaptation to NaCl stress and offer a glimpse at the mechanisms of ion homeostasis, regulation of HOG (High Osmosis Glycerol) signaling pathway and the genomic expression response of the cells against the stress.