UC Davis

Dimethyl sulphoxide (DMSO) reductase is present in all brewing yeast strains tested, but is more readily detectable using activity stains on polyacrylamide gels than through direct spectrophotometric assay of crude extracts. The enzyme is detectable at higher activities in yeast cultivated at lower temperatures and this is because of increased expression of the primary gene that codes for the enzyme in yeast, MXR1. DMSO somewhat increases enzyme expression, notably in lager yeast by up to 70%, whereas methionine suppresses it. Both ale and lager strains produce enzymes of ~100,000 in molecular weight, but ion exchange chromatography divides the activity for both ale and lager yeasts into two fractions with distinct properties (heat tolerance, pH optimum, kinetic parameters). Copyright © 2017 The Institute of Brewing & Distilling.