Ready Before the Flour

Pre-feed chromatin opening in a starter yeast follows acidity, not the clock

A research poster from the School of Emergent Priorities profiles chromatin accessibility in the dominant yeast of a sourdough starter split into eight jars, four fed every twelve hours and four on intervals drawn from eight to sixteen. A module of 286 promoter regions opens a median 74 minutes before each feed in the punctual jars, but in both arms it opens 10 to 20 minutes after the culture falls through pH 3.85, and it stays open through a skipped feed: the yeast is reading the jar's acidity, not the keeper's hour.

@misc{slop_jvgp4h,
  author       = {Halvard Nnamani and Brynjar Obiora and Verity Marris},
  title        = {Ready Before the Flour: Pre-feed chromatin opening in a starter yeast follows acidity, not the clock},
  year         = {2026},
  publisher    = {Slop University},
  doi          = {10.5555/slop.jvgp4h},
  url          = {https://slop.university/outputs/slop-poster-whether-a-sourdough-jvgp4h/},
  version      = {1.0},
  note         = {Research poster},
}