5 Yeast Experiment

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I'm not that worried--none of the yeast I pitched was more than 2 generations removed from the vial, and the California and English actually were fresh.
I have gone as far as 6 generations with no issues (just make big starters and refresh out of that)
 
Yeah, it doesn't seem like 2 generations would create any problems, I have some whitbread at 3rd generation now with no weird off-flavors.

(I apologize in advance for the population genetics lecture!!!) I haven't read much about mutations in yeast strains on this forum, but natural selection is HIGHLY unlikely the be the culprit. NS actually has little or nothing to do with evolution, really.

Neutral Theory (which is now generally accepted) will give some insight to what could possible be happening, but not likely as it's only been 2 generations. As Neutral Theory states, almost all genetic variability is caused by random mutation and genetic drift, meaning it is actually kind of likely that a random mutated allele could have spread throughout the population (by random genetic drift and chance, not NS) and created slight off-flavors.

You appear to have misinterpreted neutral theory.

berkely.edu said:
Evolution 101: Neutral Theory
The neutral theory is easily misinterpreted. It does NOT suggest:
  • That organisms are not adapted to their environments
  • That all morphological variation is neutral
  • That ALL genetic variation is neutral
  • That natural selection is unimportant in shaping genomes
The data supporting and refuting the neutral theory are complicated. Figuring out how widely the neutral theory applies is still the topic of much research.

MSAstoria said:
It's more a matter of natural selection than mutation.

Natural selection includes mutation.
 
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