[koeng]

I’m genetically engineering yeasts to make subtly flavored breads. I’ve already done grape aroma, now working on wintergreen.

Also working on a red chamomile (using beat red biosynthesis). Just for fun. Red chamomile tea!

The idea is to have niche invite-only genetically engineered flavors that I can bring to parties around SF :) what’s more special than a genetically engineered organism that you can ONLY get if I’m there? Good calling card

[cookiengineer]

Loosely related: my new hobby project is growing and nuturing sourdough that's optimized for gluten free bread, and I'm cultivating a couple of different kinds to find out which taste I like the most.

It kind of escalated a bit once I realized that different mixtures of bacteria cultures produce differently tasting dough/bread and that you can strengthen the grow rate by optimizing the external variables.

[koeng]

Very neat! How do you standardize the gluten free mixes?

I’ve been thinking about trying this since my mom is gluten free

[adityaathalye]

Literally how it began...

When the Yogurt Took Over https://lovedeathrobots.fandom.com/wiki/When_the_Yogurt_Took...

Wait, that means a glorious period of peace and prosperity for all is nigh.

[jodacola]

This is so cool. Also, it sounds like a cheeky plot to a zombie apocalypse or global contagion movie.

How subtle are the flavors? Unsubtle enough that an oblivious taster might ask, "Does this bread taste like grapes to anyone else here?" Or does one need guidance to search for the flavor?

[koeng]

I’ve only done grape so far. It’s on the verge of subtle vs unsubtle. If you’re real used to smelling yeast OR are a woman who has a strong sense of smell, you can smell it. Otherwise it’s just bread.

It’s kinda unfair how much better women were at smelling it (empirically)

[anfractuosity]

Sounds fascinating, do you have any documentation on how you modify the yeast?

[koeng]

I really need to do a write-up. I kinda just whip up the easiest path and do it.

For example for the grape, I needed to knock out some tryptophan synthesis genes so I could redirect the bioflux. Problem is that in bakers yeast they have a whole buncha copies of their chromosomes, so I had to knock out one of the genes and replace it with a different gene from grapes. Did that with a quick lil CRISPR switch.

Had to electroporate tho because the transformation rates on wild/bakers/non-lab yeast are so garbage

[bunnybomb2]

Inspiring How cheeky