Production of high levels of acetoin in Saccharomyces cerevisiae wine yeasts is a recessive trait.

A genetic study of acetoin production was performed on wild wine yeast strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae producing different amounts of the compound. By using differences found in these strains as source of genetic variability, it was found that crosses between high and low acetoin producing strains yielded the low level in the hybrids, indicating the low production as a dominant trait. Tetrad analysis showed that high vs low acetoin production is segregated as a single gene.