Molecular profiling of beer wort fermentation diversity across natural Saccharomyces eubayanus isolates

Wladimir Mardones , Carlos Villarroel , Kristoffer Krogerus , Sebastian Tapia , Kamila Urbina , Christian Oporto , Samuel O’donnell (1, 2, 3) , Romain Minebois , Roberto Nespolo , Gilles Fischer (3, 2, 1) , Amparo Querol , Brian Gibson , Francisco Cubillos

1 LCQB - Biologie Computationnelle et Quantitative = Laboratory of Computational and Quantitative Biology
2 IBPS - Institut de Biologie Paris Seine
3 SU - Sorbonne Université

The utilization of S. eubayanus has recently become a topic of interest due to the novel organoleptic properties imparted to beer. However, the utilization of S. eubayanus in brewing requires the comprehension of the mechanisms that underlie fermentative differences generated from its natural genetic variability. Here, we evaluated fermentation performance and volatile compound production in ten genetically distinct S. eubayanus strains in a brewing fermentative context. The evaluated strains showed a broad phenotypic spectrum, some of them exhibiting a high fermentation capacity and high levels of volatile esters and/or higher alcohols. Subsequently, we obtained molecular profiles by generating 'end-toend' genome assemblies, as well as metabolome and transcriptome profiling of two Patagonian isolates exhibiting significant differences in beer aroma profiles. These strains showed clear differences in concentrations of intracellular metabolites, including amino acids, such as valine, leucine and isoleucine, likely impacting the production of 2-methylpropanol and 3-methylbutanol. These differences in the production of volatile compounds are attributed to gene expression variation, where the most profound differentiation is attributed to genes involved in assimilatory sulfate reduction, which in turn validates phenotypic differences in H 2 S production. This study lays a solid foundation for future research to improve fermentation performance and select strains for new lager styles based on aroma and metabolic profiles.

Domaines: Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]

Wladimir Mardones, Carlos Villarroel, Kristoffer Krogerus, Sebastian Tapia, Kamila Urbina, et al.. Molecular profiling of beer wort fermentation diversity across natural Saccharomyces eubayanus isolates. Microbial Biotechnology, 2020, 13 (4), pp.1012-1025. ⟨10.1111/1751-7915.13545⟩. ⟨hal-03086238⟩