Join us in welcoming Dr. Maitreya Dunham, professor of Genome Sciences at the University of Washington for an enlightening yeast webinar! Maitreya will walk us through a cool study her lab conducted on how one family of yeast (Cali Ale and friends) evolves once it is repitched in breweries.

Escarpment pitched in to help this study by offering up genetic sequence data of our Cali Ale, as well as some Cali that was repitched by Red Circle/Stockyards Brewing -  for more than 30 generations!

Abstract: 
What limits the number of times yeast can be reused in a brewery? One possible variable is the yeast itself, which can accumulate mutations in its genome and evolve traits that are different from the starting strain. To investigate this process at high resolution, we have collaborated with several breweries to monitor the yeast genome using DNA sequencing over repitching timecourses. We observe several large scale chromosome changes that take over the population during repitching. Some of these changes occurred multiple times and even in multiple breweries. Given the similarities to yeast genome differences between existing brewing strains, we believe we are capturing in real time the process of yeast domestication as it adapts to modern brewing environments.

Bio: Maitreya is a professor of Genome Sciences at the University of Washington. She grew up in rural Tennessee and trained at MIT, Stanford, and Princeton before moving to Seattle. Her lab uses yeast as a platform to understand genome evolution and genetic variation in yeast and humans.

The paper: Genomic stability and adaptation of beer brewing yeasts during serial repitching in the brewery

Mutant beer: watching yeast evolve in real time in the brewery