Genomics of lesser-known groups of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Abstract

This thesis focuses on the Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains that are lesser known scientifically, yet their contribution to industries such as whisky production are enormous. Samples of distillery yeasts in Hungary were sequenced, and analyzed. In addition, genomic data of more than 20 other S. cerevisiae distillery strains got analyzed using multiple bioinformatics software and data analysis principles in Linux environment. Those yeasts were placed in the phylogenomic tree of species and visualized to determine if any distillery yeast brands are identical or whether there is any hybrid. Moreover, their ploidy got assessed. Results reveal that the sequencing was successful and gives new insights into the nature of these species. It got discovered that some of the yeasts belong to lager beer and vodka/bioethanol-producing species, and several of these yeasts are hybrids of 2 different Saccharomyces species. Most of the yeasts got noticed to be diploid.