ISOLATION OF PROPOLIS AND GEOPROPOLIS YEAST FROM NATIVE BEES WITH POTENTIAL FOR BEER FERMENTATION

Abstract

Bees are very important for the pollination of plants cultivated all over the world, guaranteeing diverse ecosystem services and having economic and ecological importance. Native bees produce honey, wax, cerumen, propolis, and geopropolis, in addition, inside the hive many organisms live in symbiosis with bees. One of those organisms is yeasts, which help with pollen fermentation, increasing the nutritional value and the preservation of the hive. Yeasts are interesting for biotechnology because these organisms are explored in the pharmaceutical, food, and alcoholic beverage industries. Within the alcoholic beverage market, the brewery stands out and has been growing in Brazil and the world with the development of new technologies and brewing production techniques. Despite the size of this market, Brazil has few national supplies for beer production, including the most used yeast strains. In this context, the project aims to isolate and analyze yeasts present in the propolis and geopropolis of native bees, seeking to explore their potential for beer production. Therefore, the yeasts will be isolated and will be tested for the understanding of the behavior of the yeast in beer wort. Afterward, the best yeast will be subjected to fermentation in DME (dry malt extract) to facilitate the selection of the best yeasts with the potential for beer fermentation. Thus, we can add value to meliponiculture byproducts by encouraging the conservation of bees and collaborating with the production of national supplies for beer production.