Yeast is used in a lot of cooking, brewing beer, even energy. A new technique for hybridization of yeast may benefit all.
Craft Beer consumption is on the rise. Out of the $101.5 billion of the beer market, craft beer is sitting at $19.6 billion of that and rising rapidly. In the past, lab workers were able to hybridize yeast much more efficiently than in nature. A new technique for hybridization may invent new beers, or even just produce the yeast more efficiently. New strains of yeast will benefit brewers and winemakers who rely on yeast to ferment the ingredients in their product to make alcohol.
Yeast is also utilized for biofuels. Yeast can only ferment so much before the alcohol from the ethanol or other biofuels becomes toxic to it. Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) were successful at pushing the boundaries of yeast by simply altering the environment it is grown in. Doing this allowed the yeast to withstand harsher conditions and continue to produce the biofuels that we need. Conventional gasoline typically contains ten percent ethanol, which is directly a product from yeast.
Another study at the Technical University of Denmark used genetically modified yeast as well. The negative criticisms of anything genetically modified, or GMO would likely prevent many from being comfortable consuming GM yeast in food. The recent surge in pushing for higher yielding biofuels will compliment any food or beverage that utilizes yeast given the importance placed in yeast across a plethora of fields.
This surge in yeast optimization will compliment the other uses of yeast like a wine compliments cheese, and that is good news for food lovers.