Iowa researchers identify single-celled fungus yeast for fermentation

In Iowa, single-celled fungus yeast is essential to humans, a linchpin in the production of bread, beer, wine, and biofuels, among many applications.

Now, biologists at the University of Iowa have found that a new type of genetic variation in yeast can improve ethanol production. In a recent study, the biologists report from experiments that yeast strains with certain alleles of a key gene are more efficient at fermentation. An allele is one of several forms of a gene, usually arising through mutation, that is responsible for hereditary variation.

The key yeast gene is MED15. The biologists found that yeast used to make wine has different alleles of MED15, and that they were better at fermentation than strains of yeast used in the lab, or presumably in other domestication niches.