Molecular Engineering of Yeast

Is this nothing more than Genetically Modified Organisms
on a microflora scale?? If so, I'll pass & stick w/ the
yeasts available on hand.
If not please indulge me.

 

people always think their own field of study is so important.

but ya, it does sound interesting.

 

If it improves beers taste and shelf life and/or decreases prices and off-flavors it can come fast enough? Imagine a 2 years old IPA as fresh as a new one. Or fast aging mechanism that gives us a 10 years old lambic in just 6 months. Don't know if that's possible, but sounds fantastic.

 

I completely get where you're going with your post. The article, OTOH, is specifically pointing towards making a yeast that is readily available and isn't as affected by alcohol in order to make stronger and cheaper beer. I wouldn't mind if it was purely experimenting with yeast in order to figure out the genetic links you pointed to, but I really don't think that is the main point. Unfortunately, I really don't see the upside to this sort of thing (and trust me, I have my degree in Chemistry and am more interested in BioChem than most) and see it as more of a waste than anything beneficial to brewing and beer in general. We can already make beer that is upward of 20% (or more, if you include Utopias) and there is no real point of profitability unless it is extremely cheap (I would imagine still in the $10-$30 range based on the breweries who would actually use the yeast), which in all honesty wouldn't attract much more of an audience than it already does (i.e. craft geeks/beer enthusiasts/what-have-you). We already have distilled beverages that have an alcohol content that is higher than any yeast will ever be able to create. Alcoholics flock to those cheaper options ($8 5th's of vodka, for example). I just don't see the point of GMO's in beer production, at least in the context of this article.

 

You don't have to be a biology grad student to believe that science may be the future of beer. But I think the implications of creating the first eukaryotic genome "from scratch" may go far beyond making are more robust and alcohol-tolerant strain of beer yeast.

And people that fear "GMO" science are usually ignorant to the process or results. Anytime you cross breed anything, which is what we see every year with new hop strains, you are creating a GMO product. People should stop fearing what they don't know simply because the media has a tendency to promote fear-mongering.

 

Reduced yeast waste? Increased attenuation? Lower pitching rates yielding the same results? Fewer stress-induced byproducts? Ale yeast that are able to ferment at lower temperatures?

There are a tremendous number of "upsides" to this sort of thing.

 

A very interesting read. I am unsure if I am pleased or scared about this

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/...ast-could-make-beer-cheaper-and-stronger.html

 

I've never worked at a brewery but as a homebrewer I would say yeast is the least expensive ingredient. Not to mention breweries typically use the same yeast for multiple batches, I can't imagine this actually making beer any cheaper.

 

I for one find this news extremely exciting. Growth & cultivation of yeast is quite difficult and expensive – few American craft breweries actually have their own unique yeast strains. Synthetic yeast could open the pathways to yeast with unique properties, higher levels of success, higher quality standards, more unique yeast strains in the market, possibility to brew beers to unfathomably high levels of alcohol,…. etc. Synthetic yeast could just be the most revolutionary & exiting thing to happen in brewing in the last 100 years since the discovery of yeast. The potentials of synthetic yeast are nearly unfathomable. Thanks for sharing this news.

 

It is exciting, but this is the line form the aricle that gave me pause

"There are also fears that synthetic life forms could escape into the wild and spread uncontrollably."

What affect, if any, could synthetic yeast have in the wild?

 

The exaggerated fear probably relates more other potential synthetic life forms that they intend to create with this project not synthetic yeast. What a synthetic yeast could do depends on what kind of yeast you have here – most yeasts devised with brewing in mind wouldn’t really be doing much. Might triumph in survival over other yeast in more extreme conditions but I devise the effect being unimportant unless if anyone has a better insight. It is not going to endanger the survival of other yeast probably. Does depends what the synthetic yeast is engineered to do or behave like.

 

As a cell biologist I also find this very interesting. However yeasts contributions to beer flavor and aroma are so complex, I feel that whatever genetic manipulations could be accomplished won't really help a brewer. I see a lot of potential for the bio-fuels and other industries, however.

 

Can I hire you for a brewery job?

 

Thanks for the info,
this actually all seems really interesting.

I do not fear GMO's due to science, I
just hate when the purpose of engineering a certain
GMO is to increase profit margins without nutritional benefit (Soy,Corn,etc.)

but, yeah,
I'll get down on a Lacto-Sacc

 

It think before we get to synthetic yeast we need a better understanding of the metabolic pathways of existing yeast. Coaxing yeast into producing desirable flavors without producing undesirable ones still seems to be more art than science. Likewise, a better understanding of the perception of these flavors at various concentrations is needed.

When it comes to ease-of-use characteristics, I think brewers happened upon directed evolution as a good solution. Want yeast that does well in stressful environments? Make a stressful environment, grow the yeast, and propagate the ones that survive. Want a high-floccing yeast? Pick the yeast out of the bottom of the fermentor.