Designing DNA Circuits To Brew Tastier Beer

Al writes "Researchers at Boston University have developed a way to predict the behavior of different DNA segments and make synthetic biology a little bit more reliable. James Collins and colleagues have built libraries of component parts and a mathematical modeling system to help them predict the behavior of parts of a gene network. Like any self-respected bunch of grad students, they decided to demonstrate the approach by making beer. They engineered gene promoters to control when flocculation occurs in brewers yeast, which allowed them to finely control the flavor of the resulting beer."

Comments

Purity

[oldspewey]

A philosophical question: can beer brewed using genetically engineered yeast still be pure according to Reinheitsgebot?

Re:Purity

[Anonymous Coward]

Foster's is damn good as well.

You have to be god-fucking-damn kidding me. The only people that drink this crap is tourists and airline passangers. We don't touch this shit in Australia, that's for sure. Try some _REAL_ Australian beer, like Alpha Pale Ale, Wicked Elf Pilsner or Nail Stout.

Re:Purity

[Anonymous Coward]

And yeasts have been cultured for a more predictable fermentation since it was discovered to be possible. Is the preservation of a certain yeast strain considered genetic manipulation?

There is a bit of a difference between selective breeding to produce, say, tougher strains of plants which is a traditional form of genetic manipulation and the act of introducing, say, a gene from a bacteria into tomatoes that makes those tomatoes produce a natural pesticide. I am ready to compromise if we are talking about GM transplants of genes within a species, such as transplanting blight resistance genes from non wine producing blight resistant grapes to the wine making varieties since the blight resistant non wine producing grapes are probably still edible and have been consumed by humans for millennia. When it comes to the more outrageous genetic modification experiments Pro GM evangelists can argue for the rest of their natural lives that this pesticide is harmless to humans but I still ain't eating anything that has been treated in any way with a pesticide that I can't was off with water. The even more outrageous triumphs of GM technology like "Terminator gene" that prevents crops from being resown is quite simply an abomination.

this is very exciting

[Satanboy]

if they can adjust speed of fermentation and can actually change the flavor of beer, this could mean a whole new market of beer flavors we haven't had the change to try!

Imagine a skunky stout, or a crisp and light porter. . .

the changes could be immense!

(or maybe I'm just being silly)

They could make a fortune...

[Greg_D]

... selling this technology to the cigar or wine industries.

Because of terroir, different regions are going to have different climates and different soil content to produce different tasting or different quality products.

But imagine being able to grow a grape in Sonoma or some cigar tobacco in Honduras and have them taste just as if they had come from France or Cuba respectively by genetically engineering a strain. Sure, some would want and have the option to keep their wines and cigars just the way they currently are. But for those who desire a taste that is currently well outside of their price range or (in the case of Cuban cigars) illegal due to embargo, this would be a boon.

There is, for example, a stark difference between Cuban tobacco from before and after 1996. Why? They changed from using corojo tobacco to a corojo/cigarette tobacco hybrid that would withstand mold. The flavor and richness are not the same anymore. But perhaps with some genetic tweaking, they can create a strain which is resistant to the mold AND shares the same flavor characteristics as the old corojo leaf.

So even at the top of the ladder, there is room for improvement.

Also, I'd like to volunteer my services to test their beer.

How the liquor biz really works

[Animats]

The hype: Skyy Vodka

The reality: Skyy Vodka is a marketing company. Manufacturing is outsourced. They buy bulk ethanol from a MGP Ingredients (formerly Midwest Solvents Company) plant in Pekin, IL. MGP makes ethanol for beverage and industrial purposes. They used to sell ethanol for fuel, too, but that ended in February 2009 due to financial losses; their production costs were too high for fuel use.

The ethanol is pumped into tank cars and shipped by rail to Frank-Lin Distillers Products in San Jose, CA., which has their own railroad sidings. Frank-Lin bottles, along with Skyy Vodka, most of the low-end booze on the West Coast. They make everything from brandy to whiskey, by mixing ethanol, water, and flavoring. They make over a thousand different "brands", although they only have about a hundred different recipes.

Frank-Lin is very automated. They have automated bottling lines that can change from one bottle and product to another without human intervention, and equally flexible packaging systems. So they can create the illusion of thousands of products, all coming from one plant.

It's all just flavored ethanol. Deal with it.

haze and tannins

[bcrowell]

For more information than you'll probably ever want about beer brewing, see How to Brew, by John Palmer (free online, also available in print).

Although the Palmer book is for homebrewers, apparently getting rid of haze is something that commercial breweries are extremely interested in, and they spend millions of dollars on research. As far as I can tell, it would mainly be an issue for American-style lagers (e.g., Budweiser), which are transparent enough that the haze would be noticeable. However, tannins and haze can also correlate with taste and shelf life (oxidation). As a homebrewer, I've never really worried about it much.

I'm not clear on why they want to use genetic modification to control when flocculation happens. There are tons of varieties of yeast that you can buy, and one of the criteria you apply when you're selecting a strain of yeast is how alcohol-tolerant it is. A less alcohol-tolerant strain will respond earlier to the stress of the alcohol by flocculating out. Since there are already so many different strains with different flocculation properties, I don't really see what the genetic modification gains you.

I instantly thought of

[bensafrickingenius]

the "Library Grape," http://anathem.wikia.com/wiki/Library_grape from Neil Stephenson's Anathem. I happen to be re-reading it right now, and just got through the dissertation on the Library Grape yesterday. I love coincidences like these.