Finding the microbes responsible for beneficial and deleterious metabolites in malt production

精酿啤酒是加拿大发展最快的行业之一，目前占加拿大90亿美元啤酒行业的25%左右。精酿啤酒行业的特点是采用天然原料生产小批量啤酒，高度专注的消费者既期待可靠的招牌啤酒，也期待不断开发的新啤酒口味。啤酒酿造商面临的主要风险是微生物活动会产生难闻的味道，以及包装后细菌的污染和变质。因此，正如在所有食品生产行业一样，酿酒商努力工作以避免不良细菌活动造成的腐败。例如，乳酸菌在酿造过程中使用的原料（谷物和啤酒花）中无处不在，并且已知在酿造环境中持续存在。不受欢迎的细菌活动导致产生难闻的味道和质地（例如粘稠或过度碳酸化），这可能导致重大的经济损失并严重影响消费者的体验。这个NSERC参与带来了卡梅伦实验室的微生物遗传学专业知识：1。1 .通过原料（谷物和啤酒花）识别进入啤酒厂的细菌和真菌；鉴定啤酒厂中的乳酸菌，为工业合作伙伴的日常质量控制测试开发更好的基因靶标。第一个目标将允许由工业合作伙伴测量的微生物群落与代谢物的相关性。这些相关性使改进的工业过程能够控制原料上的微生物活动，以减少不需要的代谢物的机会。不好的味道)。第二个目标有助于酿造环境的质量控制，以减少污染的风险。总的来说，拟议的engage项目将为合作伙伴提供进入和持续存在于生产线上的微生物群落的知识，以及用于纳入其常规质量控制监测的诊断标记。

Craft brewing is one of the fastest growing industries in Canada, now accounting for about 25% of thenine-billion-dollar Canadian beer industry. Defining characteristics of the craft brewing industry are the smallbatch production of beers exclusively from natural ingredients, and highly dedicated consumers that expectboth reliable signature beers along with ongoing development of new beer flavours. Major risks for brewers aremicrobial activities that generate bad tasting flavours, and contamination with bacteria that later grow and spoilbeer after packaging. Therefore, as in all food production industries, brewers work diligently to avoid spoilagecaused by undesirable bacterial activities. For example, lactic acid bacteria are ubiquitous on raw materials(grain and hops) used in the brewing process and are known to persist in the brewing environment. Unwantedbacterial activity results in the production of malodorous off-flavours and textures (e.g. slimy orover-carbonated) which can lead to significant financial losses and strongly influence consumer experience.This NSERC Engage brings the Cameron lab's expertise in microbial genetics to: 1. Identify the bacterial andfungus that enter a brewery on the raw ingredients (grain and hops), and 2. Identify the lactic acid bacteria inthe brewery to develop better gene targets for routine quality control testing by the industrial partner. The firstgoal will allow for correlation of microbial communities with metabolites being measured by the industrialpartner. These correlations enable improved industrial processes to control microbial activity on the rawingredients to reduce the chance of unwanted metabolites (ie. bad flavours). The second goal assists in qualitycontrol in the brewing environment to reduce the risk of contamination. Altogether, the proposed Engageproject will provide the partner with knowledge of the microbial communities entering and persisting in theproduction line, as well as diagnostic markers for incorporation into their routine quality control monitoring.