Inhibition of brewer's yeasts by wheat purothionins

Purothionins are basic polypeptides with antimicrobial properties that are present in the endosperm of wheat and other Gramineae. Susceptibility to crude and electrophoretically purified purothionins among brewing starters has been investigated. Seven yeast strains of Saccharomyces uvarum (syn. carlsbergensis), four strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and four wild strains (Saccharomyces spp.) have been tested in three culture media. All the strains were susceptible to the crude preparation in a yeast extract-glucose medium. Determinations of minimal inhibitory and biocidal concentrations yielded double end points in about half of the assays. The highest sensitivity to purothionins was obtained in malt extract medium. Sensitivity to electrophoretically purified purothionins was of the same order or smaller than to the crude preparation. Possible explanations for this unexpected result are presented.