| Abstract: | Yeast genetics is now available as a practical tool for the development of brewing industry practices. The contribution of Brewing Research Foundation work (1978–84) to recent advances is illustrated by the construction of brewing strains with superattenuating (amylolytic) or anti-contaminant properties. Approaches based on hybridisation (by rare mating) or recombinant DNA technology have been evaluated. Techniques developed for (i) gene transfer to brewing strains, (ii) ensuring stable inheritance of novel characteristics and (iii) exploiting the secretory ability of yeast strains, can be widely applied not only with brewing, distilling, baking or wine yeasts, but also in the use of yeasts to produce novel biotechnical products. ‘Spin-off’ from these studies includes valuable methods for differentiating or enumerating wild yeasts in brewery quality control. |
