4 ms·

New way to make yeast hybrids may inspire new brews, biofuels

26 points by nkurz 11y ago

dbcooper 11y ago
A Belgian lab recently reported a method for making new lager yeast hybrids: http://aem.asm.org.gate1.inist.fr/content/81/23/8202 http://aem.asm.org.gate1.inist.fr/content/81/23/8202 As described by Nature Biotech: http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/v33/n11/full/nbt1115-1125.html http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/v33/n11/full/nbt1115-1125.... >One Belgian laboratory's Friday evening beer fest has ended with a paper describing how to inject flavor into lagers by encouraging some sexual action between yeasts. Kevin Verstrepen, Stijn Mertens and collaborators at VIB laboratory for Systems Biology in Leuven showed with genetic studies that most lager fermentation results from a hybrid species of two parent yeasts—Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and S. eubayanus. Because these two species are so different, crossing them to make more diverse lagers has been unsuccessful. At least, so far. The researchers describe how they optimized growing conditions to foster mating between the two yeasts, which resulted in hundreds of new lager strains (Appl. Environ. Microbiol., doi:10.1128/AEM.02464-15, 25 September 2015). Of the 31 they tested in small-scale beer fermentors, only 10 performed well in terms of fermentation speed and flavor. Two, in particular, fermented even faster and produced novel aroma profiles compared with commercially available lager yeasts.
afarrell 11y ago
Are there any biofuels that don't require more hydrocarbons to produce than they replace? My impression was that because we couldn't industrially digest cellulose and because we rely on fertilizer from the heat-intensive Haber-Bosch process to grow most staple crops, that producing ethanol for cars caused a net-increase in carbon emissions. Am I mistaken?
- dnautics 11y ago
  I have insider info that BP developed a yeast strain that was gangbusters at digesting cellulosic feedstock into glucose, but the program got killed when they shut down their san diego operations earlier this year.
  - afarrell 11y ago
    Did they patent any of the work?
- mikeyouse 11y ago
  Definitely depends on the feedstock, the energy source, and the scale of the facility. That being said, the technology does exist to produce net positive EROEI hydrocarbons today.. They aren't remotely cost competitive with $40/bbl oil but they do exist.

26 points by nkurz 11y ago

A Belgian lab recently reported a method for making new lager yeast hybrids: http://aem.asm.org.gate1.inist.fr/content/81/23/8202 http://aem.asm.org.gate1.inist.fr/content/81/23/8202 As described by Nature Biotech: http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/v33/n11/full/nbt1115-1125.html http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/v33/n11/full/nbt1115-1125.... >One Belgian laboratory's Friday evening beer fest has ended with a paper describing how to inject flavor into lagers by encouraging some sexual action between yeasts. Kevin Verstrepen, Stijn Mertens and collaborators at VIB laboratory for Systems Biology in Leuven showed with genetic studies that most lager fermentation results from a hybrid species of two parent yeasts—Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and S. eubayanus. Because these two species are so different, crossing them to make more diverse lagers has been unsuccessful. At least, so far. The researchers describe how they optimized growing conditions to foster mating between the two yeasts, which resulted in hundreds of new lager strains (Appl. Environ. Microbiol., doi:10.1128/AEM.02464-15, 25 September 2015). Of the 31 they tested in small-scale beer fermentors, only 10 performed well in terms of fermentation speed and flavor. Two, in particular, fermented even faster and produced novel aroma profiles compared with commercially available lager yeasts.

afarrell 11y ago

Are there any biofuels that don't require more hydrocarbons to produce than they replace? My impression was that because we couldn't industrially digest cellulose and because we rely on fertilizer from the heat-intensive Haber-Bosch process to grow most staple crops, that producing ethanol for cars caused a net-increase in carbon emissions. Am I mistaken?

dnautics 11y ago
I have insider info that BP developed a yeast strain that was gangbusters at digesting cellulosic feedstock into glucose, but the program got killed when they shut down their san diego operations earlier this year.
- afarrell 11y ago
  Did they patent any of the work?
mikeyouse 11y ago
Definitely depends on the feedstock, the energy source, and the scale of the facility. That being said, the technology does exist to produce net positive EROEI hydrocarbons today.. They aren't remotely cost competitive with $40/bbl oil but they do exist.