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Flocculation gene variability in industrial brewer’s yeast strains

Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology volume 88, pages 1321–1331 (2010)Cite this article

Abstract

The brewer’s yeast genome encodes a ‘Flo’ flocculin family responsible for flocculation. Controlled floc formation or flocculation at the end of fermentation is of great importance in the brewing industry since it is a cost-effective and environmental-friendly technique to separate yeast cells from the final beer. FLO genes have the notable capacity to evolve and diverge many times faster than other genes. In actual practice, this genetic variability may directly alter the flocculin structure, which in turn may affect the flocculation onset and/or strength in an uncontrolled manner. Here, 16 ale and lager yeast strains from different breweries, one laboratory Saccharomyces cerevisiae and one reference Saccharomyces pastorianus strain, with divergent flocculation strengths, were selected and screened for characteristic FLO gene sequences. Most of the strains could be distinguished by a typical pattern of these FLO gene markers. The FLO1 and FLO10 markers were only present in five out of the 18 yeast strains, while the FLO9 marker was ubiquitous in all the tested strains. Surprisingly, three strongly flocculating ale yeast strains in this screening also share a typical ‘lager’ yeast FLO gene marker. Further analysis revealed that a complete Lg-FLO1 allele was present in these ale yeasts. Taken together, this explicit genetic variation between flocculation genes hampers attempts to understand and control the flocculation behavior in industrial brewer’s yeasts.

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Acknowledgments

SVM would like to thank Lynn Stichelbout for the excellent assistance with the interdelta analysis. Financial support from the Institute for the Promotion of Innovation through Science and Technology in Flanders (IWT-Vlaanderen, Belgium) and the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office and European Space Agency PRODEX program is acknowledged. KJV also acknowledges support from National Institutes of Health grant P50GM068763, Human Frontier Science Program RGY79/2007, European Research Council Young Investigator grant 241426, VIB, K.U.Leuven, the Fonds Voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek–Vlaanderen (FWO)-Odysseus program, and the AB InBev Baillet-Latour foundation.

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  1. Centre for Malting and Brewing Science, Department of Microbial and Molecular Systems, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 22, 3001, Leuven, Heverlee, Belgium

    Sebastiaan E. Van Mulders, Maarten Ghequire, Luk Daenen, Pieter J. Verbelen & Freddy R. Delvaux

  2. Department of Microbial and Molecular Systems, and VIB Laboratory of Systems Biology, Centre of Microbial and Plant Genetics, CMPG–G & G, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Gaston Geenslaan 1, 3001, Leuven, Heverlee, Belgium

    Kevin J. Verstrepen

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  1. Sebastiaan E. Van Mulders
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  2. Maarten Ghequire
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Correspondence to Sebastiaan E. Van Mulders.

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Van Mulders, S.E., Ghequire, M., Daenen, L. et al. Flocculation gene variability in industrial brewer’s yeast strains. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 88, 1321–1331 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-010-2843-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-010-2843-5

Keywords

  • Flocculation
  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae
  • Adhesin
  • Tandem repeats
  • Brewery fermentations