Patent ID: 7723024

Claim:
A method of monitoring fermentation conditions in a zinc-sensitive beer-brewing fermentation process which is suboptimal in the absence of zinc, comprising detecting in S. cerevisiae cells undergoing said beer-brewing fermentation process the expression of (i) S. cerevisiae nucleic acid YOR387c which encodes a protein of the sequence SEQ ID NO:3; or (ii) S. cerevisiae nucleic acid YGL258w which encodes a protein of the sequence SEQ ID NO:4, wherein expression of either of said nucleic acid YOR387c or said nucleic acid YGL258w occurs in the absence of zinc and is undetectable in the presence of zinc, so that (A) undetectable expression from either of said nucleic acid YOR387c or said nucleic acid YGL258w by Northern hybridization analysis, dot-blot hybridization or real-time PCR indicates the presence of zinc, whereas (B) detection of expression of either of said nucleic acid YOR387c or said nucleic acid YGL258w by Northern hybridization analysis, dot-blot hybridization or real-time PCR indicates the absence of zinc and, therefore, suboptimal fermentation conditions.