Scientists crack Brettanomyces gene code
‘Sequencing the brett genome, which reveals its genetic blueprint, means the Australian wine industry can future-proof its strategy against brett and the risk of spoilage,’ AWRI managing director Professor Sakkie Pretorius said.
Describing brett as ‘the enemy’, Dr Chris Curtin, the lead AWRI researcher on the Brett genomics project, said they could now investigate the potential for brett to develop a ‘super strain’ that would be resistant to sulphites, the common method for dealing with the organism.
via decanter.com.
BRETT IS YOUR FRIEND, people!
This is really awesome news for us beer folks. I’m actually excited at the thought of bio-engineered SUPER-BRETT! In that regard, I wonder what records BrewDog will race to claim…
“Oh, the sourmanity!”
Why is the Alchemy & Science logo attached to this article?
It’s a science article and I didn’t have anything readily available to attach to it. I should have used one of the meme guys instead.
Didn’t think the thumbnail would be a big deal but, in retrospect, I realize now that the whole pic is showing up in the rss feed now that it’s a full feed so I’ll change it.
Ok, found a gene sequencing pic.
It’s nitpicking, but strictly speaking, brett is not a souring bacteria. It is a yeast, and unable to produce the kinds of compounds that cause sourness. This is a very interesting read, though.
This article should be called “the AWRI needs some attention (this is how academics gets funding)”. Instead of referencing the hard work the AWRI has been doing which led to (not cracking) but simply having recorded the entire genome of one strain of Brettanomyces. For this I give them a big thanks, now to see any useful information come from this… well it’s not going to, because much of the genome was already known, and the genome is so varied between strains let alone the 5 species that to make much out of it you’d be neglecting the variability and with Brett it’s very hard to be general when so much variability exists in the genome. By knowing the genome of one strain it does allows biochemist to develop markers which detect the presence of Brett in wine through PCR detection methods. Winemakers who have a fear of Brett will be able to detect it.. but by no means stops the infection or the rats that climb into their vats and die… Great research wasted on a poorly written article. I look forward to the scientific publication which keeps out the fictitious claims about ‘super strains’.
If there were more time in the day, I’d dig deeper. I swear! 😉
Yeah.. I think you hit the high spots.. not too much more to dig deeper into at this time I’d say