Process Proteomics of Beer Reveals a Dynamic Proteome with Extensive Modifications

Area of Science:

• Biochemistry
• Food Science
• Proteomics

Background:

• Beer production is a complex industrial process with some unclear biochemical details.
• Understanding the protein dynamics is crucial for optimizing beer quality.

Purpose of the Study:

• To globally analyze proteins during nanoscale beer production using mass spectrometry.
• To quantitatively compare protein abundance changes throughout the brewing process.

Main Methods:

• Global untargeted mass spectrometry proteomics.
• Data-independent SWATH-MS for quantitative proteome analysis.
• Analysis of sweet wort, hopped wort, and bright beer samples.

Main Results:

• Identified over 200 unique barley and yeast proteins.
• Detected significant proteome changes at each production step.
• Observed protein enrichment by biophysical properties and yeast protein dominance during fermentation.

Conclusions:

• Mass spectrometry proteomics offers valuable insights into beer production biochemistry.
• Malt modification and protein modifications (protease digestion, glycation, oxidation) impact the proteome.
• This study highlights the complexity of beer's biochemical composition.