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. 1990 Dec;56(12):3785–3792. doi: 10.1128/aem.56.12.3785-3792.1990

Oxygen requirements of yeasts.

W Visser 1, W A Scheffers 1, W H Batenburg-van der Vegte 1, J P van Dijken 1
PMCID: PMC185068  PMID: 2082825

Abstract

Type species of 75 yeast genera were examined for their ability to grow anaerobically in complex and mineral media. To define anaerobic conditions, we added a redox indicator, resazurin, to the media to determine low redox potentials. All strains tested were capable of fermenting glucose to ethanol in oxygen-limited shake-flask cultures, even those of species generally regarded as nonfermentative. However, only 23% of the yeast species tested grew under anaerobic conditions. A comparative study with a number of selected strains revealed that Saccharomyces cerevisiae stands out as a yeast capable of rapid growth at low redox potentials. Other yeasts, such as Torulaspora delbrueckii and Candida tropicalis, grew poorly mu max, 0.03 and 0.05 h-1, respectively) under anaerobic conditions in mineral medium supplemented with Tween 80 and ergosterol. The latter organisms grew rapidly under oxygen limitation and then displayed a high rate of alcoholic fermentation. It can be concluded that these yeasts have hitherto-unidentified oxygen requirements for growth.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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