[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

[cookiengineer]

Currently I have kind of two main starters where I am experimenting with:

One starter uses the same schaer flour (which is based on a corn, rice and lentil mix). This one grows veeery slowly and needs lots of maintenance. But I want to keep it because that is the flour that also guests with celiac disease can eat. I'm trying to keep this one as clean as possible, same glass, same spoon, separate baking equipment etc.

The second starter is based on spelt flour. That one grows pretty easily, I used some turkish culture for it, and it's the survivor of the previous experiment :D

For both of them the grow rate is off. The first one grows around 1/5th until it needs more flour and water, the second one grows around 1/3rd until it needs maintenance. The standardized maintenance for wheat flour is 2x growth so you always have to fill the glass half way and then mark it with a rubber band.

[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)

[nmaleki]

Can we buy it?

[koeng]

I don’t think it’s legal for me to sell it (it is a genetically modified organism used in food), but I’d like to figure out if I can just give it away

[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

[amarant]

How much expensive lab equipment do you need to do something like this?

"A quick lil CRISPR switch" sounds like "oh just my homemade fusion reactor hooked up to my kitchen warp drive" to me, yet you make it sound so simple!

[adastra22]

You can do this on your desk, or better yet at your local diy bio hackerspace. Validating it takes some equipment, e.g. for PCR, but that's commonly available.

[koeng]

Eh, other than the electroporator I could probably do it for about $100-$200 bucks of equipment if I had a decent kitchen.

Reagents probably about $300, but you can use em in a bunch of reactions, in aggregate down to like $50.

The fundamentals of biology are really cheap, but the skills to actually do it are really expensive. It’s way more manual than you imagine - like how my thumb moves. The equipment is way more fundamentally basic than you imagine: the only thing you can’t 3d print and build from off-the-shelf stuff is the instant pot I use for media prep

[Hammerhead12321]

Starting from nothing, how much time (and money) might it take an individual to learn how to be able to do these things?

[koeng]

I’d recommend buying an Odin kit and just trying it. Doesn’t take THAT much to get into genetic engineering.

The tough part is mostly the finesse in the simple things, like trying this in bakers yeast rather than lab yeast, or the genetic design.

Cost is quite high for mistakes, but LLMs are honestly quite good to help you out with the basics. You MUST at least try to read the papers though - it’s not like coding where you can mostly let it do its thing.

[fc417fc802]

If you can find a nearby community college offering a molecular biology class that includes a practical lab then I'd say a couple quarters of time and tuition.

DIY that will depend on your level of ability. You can do this stuff in your kitchen but learning it from a textbook will be daunting for many (most?) people.

[dnautics]

Curious why you do CRISPR when HR works great in yeast.

If you are having trouble transforming, try spheroplasty.

[koeng]

Already answered there: I’m using bakers yeast, not lab yeast (store-bought S cerevisiae). It’s not haploid, often it’s tetraploid. HR doesn’t guarantee homozygous transformation.

Same answer for electroporation vs spheroplasty. I’ve found with wild yeasts or less tamed yeasts (pichia), sometimes just nuking the damn thing with kV will just work, whereas those chemical methods can be way more finicky. Time is money

[bunnybomb2]

Inspiring How cheeky