Z is for Zyme
‘Zyme’ (ancient Greek for a ‘ferment’ or ‘leaven’) is a microscopic single-celled fungi, commonly known as ‘yeast’. The word is the root of the scientific term ‘enzyme’. Yeast has been used in fermentative processes for thousands of years to make bread ‘rise’ and produce alcohol in wine and ale. Both practices would have been a stock part of the food and drink processing activities in the bake and brew house of St Augustine’s Abbey, part of the Canterbury UNESCO World Heritage Site. The old brew house wall is now the only significant monument within Canterbury Christ Church University’s North Holmes campus, located in the outer precinct of the abbey site; yeast forms a key connection between the lives of the Augustinian monks and the science students and staff of today.
‘Yeast’ is generally used as a synonym for Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the classic brewer’s and baker’s yeast, but over one thousand-five hundred different species have now been identified. By undergoing alcoholic fermentation, brewer’s yeast take sugars and convert them into carbon dioxide (which gives the fizz to wines and beers, as well as the rise to bread) and ethanol, the alcohol in alcoholic beverages. It is a key component in the university’s own green hop ale, brewed in association with a local micro-brewery using hops grown in the heart of the UNESCO World Heritage Site.
In addition to its use in food and drink production, yeast is used as an important model organism for scientific research. Many fundamental life processes have been determined using yeast; indeed the biochemists’ enzyme (the cellular machines that catalyse biochemical reactions) literally means in yeast, being named by the German Physiologist Wilhelm Kühne in 1877. It’s importance as a tool for science being highlighted by the fact that since 2001, five Nobel Prizes have been awarded for research carried out in yeast.
At Canterbury Christ Church University, yeast’s similarity to human cells is being exploited by researchers to help understand the underlying processes of human diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Creutzfeldt Jakob disease (CJD). In addition, a student-based project, part of the University’s Edible Campus initiative’, has involved isolating natural strains of yeast from the plants growing on campus. These yeasts were shared with The Foundry, a local micro-brewery in an attempt to create a beer or ale from ‘wort’ (the liquid extracted from the mashing process during the brewing of beer) made with other ingredients locally sourced from the campus. Two of the yeast strains isolated in the project went on to make successful brews, with one of the strains (gathered from a cherry tree) being further selected to produce a local whisky.
The Foundry micro-brewery has been working with Canterbury Christ Church University for several years to produce a green-hop ale, using hops grown on campus (within the outer precinct of the St. Augustine’s Abbey). The hops are harvested by students and staff volunteers, and then ‘processed’ through Canterbury to the brewery where the resultant brew is blessed by one of the university chaplains. Cheers!
Dr Byrne is a Senior Lecturer in Life Sciences. His passions are proteins and teaching chemistry and biochemistry-based modules at Canterbury Christ Church University.
Science research at Canterbury Christ Church University
The University will also be hosting a two-day conference on Canterbury and other UNESCO World Heritage Sites around the world on Friday 24 and Saturday 25 May at Old Sessions House, Longport.
