Franconian Beer Message Board
It's all down to the Argentines |
| Posted by barry on 2011-08-26 03:26:58 |
| Well, at least according to a cutting from the Irish Times, last Tuesday (23/8/11), quoting the US-journal 'Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences'. This says that scientists have discovered that 'the yeast that made lager possible came from the beech forests of Patagonia where it lives even today in the sugary beech galls caused by insect infestation'. By examing the genomes of different yeasts, it is claimed that yeast from this source is the only one discovered so far that provides an exact match. It appears to be a mutant, 'a merger of two different yeast forms'. Geneticists searched through the 1,000 plus known species of European yeast but found no match for the lager-producing mutant. Two caveats: first, scientists can't work out how it got to Europe, though speculate that it might have come in beech timbers shipped to Europe, or in the stomach of a gall mite that came with the timber. Second, although the Argentine yeast was a definitive genetic match, the only thing that remains unproven is whether it exists elsewhere in the wild and hasn't been found. So, there's some food for thought while you are supping your seidla! |