Thanks, fruit flies, for that pleasing beer scent
Thursday, October 9, 2014 - 12:01
in Biology & Nature
The familiar smell of beer is due in part to aroma compounds produced by common brewer's yeast. Now, researchers reporting in the Cell Press journal Cell Reports on October 9th have discovered why the yeast (formally known as S. cerevisiae) make that smell: the scent attracts fruit flies, which repay the yeast by dispersing their cells in the environment.