Tolerant industrial yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae posses a more robust cell wall integrity signaling pathway against 2-furaldehyde and 5-(hydroxymethyl)-2-furaldehyde

•All five sensor genes of both strains were activated for the cell wall integrity pathway against furfural-HMF.•The industrial yeast Y-50049 demonstrated a more robust cell wall integrity pathway against furfural-HMF.•Sensor gene WSC3 from strain Y-50049 was outstanding in response to challenges of furfural-HMF.•Non-synonymous amino acid mutations exist in Wsc3 from Y-50049.•New evidence to support the industrial yeast as desirable delivery vehicle for the next-generation biocatalyst development. Cell wall integrity signaling pathway in Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a conserved function for detecting and responding to cell stress conditions but less understood for industrial yeast. We examined gene expression dynamics for a tolerant industrial yeast strain NRRL Y-50049 in response to challenges of furfural and HMF through comparative quantitative gene expression analysis using pathway-based qRT-PCR array assays. All tested genes from Y-50049, except for MLP2, demonstrated more resistant and significantly increased gene expression than that from a laboratory strain BY4741. While all five sensor encoding genes WSC1, WSC2, WSC3, MID2 and MTL1 from both strains were activated in response to the furfural-HMF treatment, WSC3 from Y-50049 demonstrated the most increased expression over time compared with any other sensor genes. These results suggested the industrial yeast poses more robust cell wall integrity pathway, and gene WSC3 could have the special capability for signal transmission against furfural and HMF. Among five single nucleotide variations discovered in WSC3 from Y-50049, three were found to be non-synonymous mutations resulting in amino acid alterations of Ser158 → Tyr158, Val186 → Ile186, and Glu430 → Asp430. Our results suggest the industrial yeast as a more desirable delivery vehicle for the next-generation biocatalyst development.