Search

The selection of yeast with good fermentation characteristics is critical for producing beer with desirable qualities. A yeast population was selected with an enhanced fermentation rate, referred to as high‐fermentation yeast (HFY), which was derived from the wild‐type Sacchromyces pastorianusyeast population (WTY). To identify genes that contribute to the fermentation performance, we compared the genetic profiles of the WTY and HFY populations by next‐generation sequencing. Several chromosomal regions were found to exhibit markedly different sequence coverage, suggesting chromosomal duplications and deletions, which might have occurred during selection of the HFY population. Among the genes with altered coverage, the copy number of the Saccharomyces eubayanus‐type YCK1(SeYCK1) gene was almost two times higher in the HFY population than in the WTY population. The gene which is involved in glucose sensing in Saccharomyces cerevisiaewas at a higher level in the HFY population throughout fermentation. These findings suggest that the chromosomal duplication of a region including the SeYCK1gene locus of the HFY population is at least partially responsible for the differences in the fermentation properties between the WTY and HFY populations. © 2018 The Institute of Brewing & Distilling

Peptides were genetically produced that were composed of two or three repeats of the self-assembling peptide RADA16 (RADARADARADARADA), and referred to as RADA16 × 2 and RADA16 × 3, respectively. These peptides were expressed as fusion proteins that retained the activity of the fusion partner protein. The expressed peptides exhibited both fibril formation and the ability to support cell adhesive activity. Moreover, hydrogels formed by the peptides via the addition of a medium provided a three-dimensional environment for cell proliferation.