PCR-TTGE and RAPD-PCR techniques to analyze Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Saccharomyces carlsbergensis isolated from craft beers

• Published in: Journal of the Institute of Brewing 2006, Vol.112 (4), p.340-345
• Main Authors: Giusto, C, Iacumin, L, Comi, G, Buiatti, S, Manzano, M
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: alcoholic fermentation; Beers; Biological and medical sciences; brewing; craft beers; electrophoresis; Fermented food industries; Food industries; Food microbiology; food processing; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; lactic acid bacteria; PCR-TTGE; polymerase chain reaction; random amplified polymorphic DNA technique; RAPD-PCR; Saccharomyces cerevisiae; Saccharomyces uvarum; strain differences; Temporal Temperature Gel Electrophoresis; yeast; yeasts
• ISSN: 0046-9750; 2050-0416
• DOI: 10.1002/j.2050-0416.2006.tb00740.x

In the Friuli Venezia Giulia region (North East of Italy) the production of craft beers has been increasing constantly. Usually microbreweries use yeasts supplied by Italian or foreign industrial breweries for beer production. Yeast species are often not known, moreover the vitality, the viability, the physiological state and the number of generation are not known. To improve the quality of the final product it is important to evaluate the quality of the yeast strain used and the lactic acid bacteria contamination. Various molecular methods have been developed to compare genetic characteristics of yeast strains used in beer and wine production. The methods proposed in this work, PCRTTGE and RAPD-PCR techniques, allow the comparison of specific DNA sequences to identify and /or characterize yeast strains. The molecular methods are faster than traditional methods and they allowed the identification of the strains analysed as S. cerevisiae and the intraspecies differentiation among yeast strains tested within 8 h after cell growth.