Sake mash was prepared using rice with polishing ratios of 70%, 80%, 90% and 98%. At a polishing ratio of 70%, the highest isoamyl acetate/isoamyl alcohol (E/A) ratio in sake was obtained, and inositol addition caused a decrease in E/A ratio. In several strains tested, inositol addition to the mash decreased isoamyl acetate content and E/A ratio in sake Inositol addition significantly decreased alcohol acetyltransferase (AATase) activity which is responsible for the synthesis of acetate esters from alcohols and acetyl coenzyme A. The results of Northern blot analysis and disruption of the OPI1 gene, an inositol/choline-mediated negative regulatory gene, showed that the decrease in AATase activity following inositol addition is not due to a transcriptional event. Inositol addition increased phosphatidylinositol (PI) content 3-fold in sake mash yeast cells, while it had no effect on phosphatidylcholine (PC), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) and phosphatidylserine (PS) contents. When cell-free extracts prepared from sake mash yeast cells were treated with chloroform or phospholipase C to remove PI, no difference in AATase activity in sake mash between with (Ino+) and without (Ino-) inositol addition was observed. PI prepared from sake mash yeast cells inhibited AATase activity more strongly than PC and PE. Furthermore, when PI, PC, PE and PS at a ratio (1.0: 1.28: 0.70: 0.09) corresponding to the phospholipid composition of Ino+ sake mash yeast cells were added to a reaction mixture, the AATase activity decreased to 26-55% that of yeast cells from the Ino-mash with a phospholipid composition of 0.34:1.28:0.7:0.09. Approximately all of the PI was recovered in the ammonium sulfate precipitate of the cell-free extract, while only half of the PC and PE was recovered. The acidic phospholipid, phosphatidylglycerol, as well as PI inhibited AATase activity more strongly than PC, despite its having the same fatty acid composition as PC. These results suggest that the strong inhibition of AATase activity by PI is due to its high adsorptive capacity for the AATase protein. Therefore, rice polishing can remove inositol from rice leading to an increase in AATase activity, and resulting in a high E/A ratio in sake.