Microbe domestication and the identification of the wild genetic stock of lager-brewing yeast

Domestication of plants and animals promoted humanity's transition from nomadic to sedentary lifestyles, demographic expansion, and the emergence of civilizations. In contrast to the well-documented successes of crop and livestock breeding, processes of microbe domestication remain obscure, despite the importance of microbes to the production of food, beverages, and biofuels. Lager-beer, first brewed in the 15th century, employs an allotetraploid hybrid yeast, Saccharomyces pastorianus (syn. Saccharomyces carlsbergensis), a domesticated species created by the fusion of a Saccharomyces cerevisiae ale-yeast with an unknown cryotolerant Saccharomyces species. We report the isolation of that species and designate…

• JS
  James S. McDonnell Foundation
• HH
  Helen Hay Whitney Foundation
• NB
  National Brain Research Centre
• NI
  National Institutes of Health
• FP
  Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia