Heterogeneity in brewing yeast populations
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Nottingham
Department Name: Sch of Biosciences
Abstract
Brewing fermentation exposes yeast to a wide variety of environmental challenges including those associated with ethanol, osmotic and oxidative stress factors. The heterogeneous response to these stresses at the single cell level may provide insights into the root cause of fermentation inconsistencies. In addition, it may fuel the growing knowledge of the importance of heterogeneity with regards to stress resistance, allowing greater understanding of the impact of fermentation on yeast health. Analysis of phenotypic heterogeneity using a range of brewing yeasts may also help improve strain selection for particular fermentations, such as high gravity brewing. Therefore firstly, continuing on from research already undertaken within the research group, the heterogeneity of wild type brewing yeast and a wild yeast populations will be analysed specifically for their response to ethanol, sorbitol (osmotic) and oxidative stress. Once the results from this have been analysed, the next stage will be to isolate daughter cells from the budding yeast strains and perform an identical study on this sub-population. This analysis will eliminate any contributions to phenotypic heterogeneity based on cell age and size. In addition, analysis of daughter cells will provide an indication as to whether the heterogeneity observed in cell populations is an innate heritable property, or a characteristic that is acquired during fermentation. It may also help show any potential links between yeast phenotypic heterogeneity and fermentation inconsistencies and indeed may aid in strain selection tailored for certain types of fermentation and stressful environments.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Chris Powell (Primary Supervisor) |
Studentship Projects
| Project Reference | Relationship | Related To | Start | End | Student Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BB/M008770/1 | 01/10/2015 | 31/03/2024 | |||
| 1944820 | Studentship | BB/M008770/1 | 01/10/2017 | 30/09/2021 |
| Description | So far my work has shown there is a large degree of variation between single yeast cells in a genetically uniform brewing yeast population. Variation has been seen between cells in their capacity to survive and respond to increasing levels of brewing related stress for example ethanol stress. This finding is surprising given the asexual nature in which yeast cells replicate, meaning theoretically the cells should be genetically identical. Further to this, for the first time we have also shown that these patterns of variation in stress response seen in yeast cells are identical to the stress responses seen in newly produced yeast daughter cells. Therefore implying that yeast stress response and variation between single yeast cells is an inheritable trait. |
| Exploitation Route | The findings so far show new methods in heterogeneity analysis and yeast daughter cell isolation that can be used by both researchers and industry. The results themselves may also indicate how the variation seen between single cells in responding to increasing levels of brewing stress can impact brewing fermentation and thus the brewing industry |
| Sectors | Agriculture, Food and Drink |
| Description | PubhD Public research presentation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The Activity involved me giving a 10 minute talk, to members of the public in a pub, with only the aids of a whiteboard and some hand-outs about my current research in brewing science. This was then followed by a 20 minute Q and A open to the audience. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |