Metabolic Flux and Nodes Control Analysis of Brewer’s Yeasts Under Different Fermentation Temperature During Beer Brewing

Abstract

The aim of this work was to further investigate the glycolysis performance of lager and ale brewer's yeasts under different fermentation temperature using a combined analysis of metabolic flux, glycolytic enzyme activities, and flux control. The results indicated that the fluxes through glycolytic pathway decreased with the change of the fermentation temperature from 15 °C to 10 °C, which resulted in the prolonged fermentation times. The maximum activities (V (max)) of hexokinase (HK), phosphofructokinase (PFK), and pyruvate kinase (PK) at key nodes of glycolytic pathway decreased with decreasing fermentation temperature, which was estimated to have different control extent (22-84 %) on the glycolytic fluxes in exponential or flocculent phase. Moreover, the decrease of V (max) of PFK or PK displayed the crucial role in down-regulation of flux in flocculent phase. In addition, the metabolic state of ale strain was more sensitive to the variation of temperature than that of lager strain. The results of the metabolic flux and nodes control analysis in brewer's yeasts under different fermentation temperature may provide an alternative approach to regulate glycolytic flux by changing V (max) and improve the production efficiency and beer quality.