Intracellular accumulation of ethanol in yeast

Journal Article · Thu Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 1983 · Biotechnol. Bioeng.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/bit.260250911· OSTI ID:5376901

Loueiro, V; Ferreira, H G

Ethanol produced in the course of a batch fermentation by Saccharomyces cerevisiae or added from the outside, affects adversely the specific rate of growth of the yeast population, its viability, its specific rate of fermentation, and the specific rates of the uptake of sugar and amino acids. The underlying mechanisms are many and include irreversible denaturation and hyperbolic noncompetitive inhibition of glycolytic enzymes, the exponential noncompetitive inhibition of glucose, maltose, and ammonium transport, the depression of the optimum and the maximum temperature for growth, the increase of the minimum temperature for growth, and the enhancement of thermal death and petite mutation. Nagodawithana and Steinkraus reported that added ethanol was less toxic for S. cerevisiae than ethanol produced by the yeast. The death rates were lower in the presence of added ethanol than those measured at similar external ethanol concentrations endogenously produced. They proposed that, due to an unbalance between the rates of production and the net outflux of ethanol, there would be an intracellular accumulation of ethanol which in turn would explain the apparently greater inhibitory potency of endogenously produced ethanol present in the medium. This hypothesis was supported by the findings of several authors who reported that the intracellular concentration of ethanol, in the course of batch fermentation, is much higher than its concentration in the extracellular medium. The present work is an attempt to clarify this matter. (Refs. 32).

• Research Organization: Lab. of Microbiology, Lab. of Physiology, Gulbenkian Inst. of Science, 2781 Oeiras Codex, Portugal
• OSTI ID: 5376901
• Journal Information: Biotechnol. Bioeng.; (United States), Journal Name: Biotechnol. Bioeng.; (United States) Vol. 25:9; ISSN BIBIA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

560302* -- Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology-- Microorganisms-- (-1987)
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
ALCOHOLS
BATCH CULTURE
BIOCONVERSION
BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS
ENZYMES
ETHANOL
FERMENTATION
FUNGI
GROWTH
HYDROXY COMPOUNDS
INHIBITION
MICROORGANISMS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
PLANTS
SACCHAROMYCES
SACCHAROMYCES CEREVISIAE
UPTAKE
YEASTS