Proteomic Analysis of Beer

Proteins determine several key sensory and technological properties of beer. Most of the protein components of beer are barley pathogenesis–related proteins, which endure the harsh brewing treatments. Due to their intrinsic resistance, they can also survive gastrointestinal digestion in humans, evoking immune responses in predisposed individuals. For these reasons, beer proteins have been studied for several decades. However, only the recent development of the mass spectrometry–based proteomic techniques is disclosing the “deep” proteome of beer. Several dozens of barley- and yeast-derived proteins constitute the current “core” proteome of beer, while many others are specific to beer brands or styles. Proteolytic peptides of beer include a multitude of sequences derived from prolamins that are potentially harmful for celiacs. In this chapter, we survey the compositional and functional aspects of the beer proteome/peptidome emphasizing the most recent findings obtained using the newest proteomic approaches.