Studies on yeast metabolism. 5. The trehalose content of baker's yeast during anaerobic fermentation

Abstract

Fermentation of glucose, sucrose, fructose or mannose by baker''s yeast is accompanied by an initial breakdown in yeast trehalose. In N-free medium this initial breakdown is succeeded by trehalose re-synthesis. Assimilable N prevents re-synthesis during fermentation of glucose for 2 hours. After fermenting glucose with or without assimilable N, yeast transferred to fresh N-free medium starts synthesizing trehalose immediately when glucose is added. Yeast trehalose shows only minor changes during fermentation of maltose. Breakdown of yeast trehalose during glucose fermentation in presence of mM azide was confirmed.