Conditional floculating yeasts for application in the production of beers

• Grant number: 19/26834-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date until: July 01, 2020
• End date until: August 31, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Genetics - Molecular Genetics and Genetics of Microorganisms
• Principal Investigator: Anderson Ferreira da Cunha
• Grantee: Flávia Beatriz Sgobbi
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde (CCBS). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Beer, considered a low-alcohol beverage prepared from fermentation processes, began its production around 6000 to 8000 BC, consisting of four main ingredients: water, hops, malt, and yeast. The brewing process is given by multiple stages involving the biological conversion of raw materials into the final product. Its production and per capita consumption increased gradually, with industrial production responsible for moving billions of dollars in the world, being a growing market in Brazil. Yeasts (eukaryotic microorganisms), belonging to the Fungi Kingdom, are unicellular fungi with vegetative reproduction by budding or budding. Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeasts have several strains capable of producing primary metabolic that are considered important for beer, as well as secondary compounds that characterize the taste of the beverage. During the production of this beverage, yeast flocculation, a process defined by the agglomeration of multicellular masses, is separated from the medium by sedimentation or flotation, which is extremely important. This process should only happen at the end of the fermentation process, being a characteristic directly related to the production time. The aim of the present study is to modulate the expression of the gene responsible for flocculation in yeast used in beer production. Using molecular biology techniques, we hope to obtain flocculant yeasts conditional on sugar concentration in order to increase the speed of this process and consequently reduce the production time.