Using cutting-edge DNA sequencing techniques, scientists have managed to trace the origin of the yeast used to create lager beer to 15th century Bavaria, in Germany.
Yeast are known as a necessity for making bread, ales, wine, and beer.
It resulted in a much lighter and smoother form that after they shared with neighboring Bohemian, persisted on taking over the 19 and 20 century, particularly in America.
The results suggested that the Saaz and Frohberg lineages (named for their area of origin) were created by at least two distinct hybridisation events between almost identical strains of S. eubayanus with relatively more diverse ale strains of S. cerevisiae. As of now, lagers control 94 percent of the global beer consumer base.
We know now that the unknown parent is called Saccharomyces eubayanus, a type of wild yeast found in Patagonia, and whose genome can answer questions to its evolution into an industrial lager ingredient.
“There’s going to be a lot of opportunities”, said Chris Hittinger, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in an interview with Laboratory Equipment. Researchers have now found there were two “origin events” for them. The unlikely connection between two different species, different genetically from one another as birds and humans, happened two times at least. They find it’s a hybrid of original ale yeasts and a different species.
Conversely, he wondered what other yeast strains, lurking undetected in nature, might harbor genes that could make beers better. According to new features of the research process conducted by the institutions, it has been found out that the fundamental difference that lies between the lagers and the ales is to be located in the yeast.
Their genomes reveal that the Saaz lineage imitated S. eubayanus yeast to a greater extent than S. cerevisiae, while the Frohberg lineage represented both yeasts equally. The Bavarian monks discovered a new yeast type, which could be used to make beer at low temperatures.
They in contrast it to domesticated hybrids which might be used to brew lager fashion beers, permitting for the primary time the power to research the entire genomes of each parental yeast species contributing to lager beer. Refrigeration made it possible to brew lager year-round, and to brew lager in more places and keep it cold until serving. “Although these hybrids were different from the start, they also changed in some predictable ways during their domestication”, he continued. While Hittinger hasn’t quite figured out how S. eubayanus got to Bavaria, his recent study, published in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution, details the origins of the two types of lager yeast.
