Degradation of β-Glucan, Pectin and Xylan for Better Filterability of Beer and Wine
Barley cell walls contain β-glucan, polysaccharides containing β-1,4- and β-1,3-linked glucose molecules. These linkages are cleaved by specific endo-β-glucanases from barley during the malting process. Depending on the conditions used,β-glucan degradation is often incomplete. The enzyme from barley is extremely thermolabile and, due to high temperatures during the drying of malt and mashing, little active β glucanases are present in wort. Thus,β-glucan is often found in beer, where it reduces filterability by the for-mation of gels and blocks the filter. Moreover,β-glucan is found in the final product and causes hazes [70, 81].
One can add isolated microbial β-glucanases to mash and wort, respectively, to improve the filterability of beer. Meanwhile, the genes encoding β-glucanases have been cloned from bacteria and fungi, characterized and expressed in brewer’s yeast. Cantwell et al. [82] expressed a β-glucanase-encoding gene from Bacillus subtilis under the control of the ADH1 promoter in yeast. However, very little enzyme was secreted by the engineered yeast.Lancashire and Wilde [83] fused the B. subtilisgene to the promoter and signal sequence of the S. cerevisiae α-factor, a naturally secreted enzyme.Brewer’s yeast transformed with this expression cassette secreted functional β-glucanase into the medium, which reduced the β-glucan content of the wort during fermentation.
Enari et al. [84] expressed the Trichoderma reesei β-glucanase gene under control of the PGK1 promoter. Specific yeast-secretion signal sequences were not required, since fungal extracellular enzymes are efficiently excreted by the yeast [85]. Wort β-glucan was effectively degraded and beer filterability was remarkably improved in brewing experiments using the transformed yeast strain [84, 86]. The heat-labile β-glucanase from barley, which is responsible for β-glucan degradation during malting and mashing was fused downstream of a mouse α-amylase-secretion signal sequence and expressed in S. cerevisiae under the control of the ADH1 and PGK1 promoters, respectively [87, 88].Brewer’s yeast, transformed with this construct, produced beer with reduced β-glucan content in brewing experiments [81]. Recently, the β-glucanase of Rhizopus microsporus var.microsporus was characterized [89]. This enzyme was shown to be able to hydrolyze barley β-glucan and its maximum activity was detected at temperatures of 50–60◦C. This enzyme was also able to reduce both the viscosity of the brewing mash and the filtration time, and is thus a promising candidate for industrial application.
Glucan, pectin and xylan are polysaccharides that also hamper wine clarification. These polysaccharides are derived from grapes or formed by other microorganisms, respectively. They are responsible for turbidity, viscosity and filter stoppages. Pectinases and glucanases have very often been added to the grape must during wine making in order to improve filterability [25]. Some recombinant yeast strains have been developed that are able to express and secrete these enzymes. For example, a glucanolytic wine yeast was developed expressing fungal or bacterial β-1,4-glucanases [90, 91]. Recently, recombinant wine yeast strains have been constructed that were able to degrade the problem-causing grape polysaccharides, glucan and xylan, by separately integrating theTrichoderma reesei XYN2 xylanase gene and the Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens END1 glucanase into the genome of a commercial wine yeast strain of S. cerevisiae [92].
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