DETERMINATION OF BREWING YEAST PLOIDY BY DNA MEASUREMENT

Abstract
A method has been derived which permits the determination of the degree of ploidy in industrial strains of yeast. The method involves measuring the DNA content per cell of the strains, which is achieved by careful counting of the cells using a haemocytometer and a determination of the amount of DNA by a colorimetric method. Using this technique it was determined that the two industrial lager strains under investigation are tetraploid.* 1 These results have been briefly described at the meeting of the EBC Subgroup on Yeast Genetics, Copenhagen 1982.