Yeast Technology

Yeasts are the active agents responsible for three of our most important foods - bread, wine, and beer - and for the almost universally used mind/ personality-altering drug, ethanol. Anthropologists have suggested that it was the production of ethanol that motivated primitive people to settle down and become farmers. The Earth is thought to be about 4. 5 billion years old. Fossil microorganisms have been found in Earth rock 3. 3 to 3. 5 billion years old. Microbes have been on Earth for that length of time carrying out their principal task of recycling organic matter as they still do today. Yeasts have most likely been on Earth for at least 2 billion years before humans arrived, and they playa key role in the conversion of sugars to alcohol and carbon dioxide. Early humans had no concept of either microorganisms or fermentation, yet the earliest historical records indicate that by 6000 B. C. they knew how to make bread, beer, and wine. Earliest humans were foragers who col lected and ate leaves, tubers, fruits, berries, nuts, and cereal seeds most of the day much as apes do today in the wild. Crushed fruits readily undergo natural fermentation by indigenous yeasts, and moist seeds germinate and develop amylases that produce fermentable sugars. Honey, the first con centrated sweet known to humans, also spontaneously ferments to alcohol if it is by chance diluted with rainwater. Thus, yeasts and other microbes have had a long history of 2 to 3.

Yeasts are the active agents responsible for three of our most important foods - bread, wine, and beer - and for the almost universally used mind/ personality-altering drug, ethanol. Anthropologists have suggested that it was the production of ethanol that motivated primitive people to settle down and become farmers. The Earth is thought to be about 4. 5 billion years old. Fossil microorganisms have been found in Earth rock 3. 3 to 3. 5 billion years old. Microbes have been on Earth for that length of time carrying out their principal task of recycling organic matter as they still do today. Yeasts have most likely been on Earth for at least 2 billion years before humans arrived, and they playa key role in the conversion of sugars to alcohol and carbon dioxide. Early humans had no concept of either microorganisms or fermentation, yet the earliest historical records indicate that by 6000 B. C. they knew how to make bread, beer, and wine. Earliest humans were foragers who col lected and ate leaves, tubers, fruits, berries, nuts, and cereal seeds most of the day much as apes do today in the wild. Crushed fruits readily undergo natural fermentation by indigenous yeasts, and moist seeds germinate and develop amylases that produce fermentable sugars. Honey, the first con centrated sweet known to humans, also spontaneously ferments to alcohol if it is by chance diluted with rainwater. Thus, yeasts and other microbes have had a long history of 2 to 3.

Basic research is here applied to solve practical problems and to bring the reader up-to-date on recent developments of most aspects of yeast-based industries. Main topics cover: the brewing and distilling industries, wine-making and the nature of winery yeasts, food yeasts, spoilage yeasts, non-saccharomyces yeasts, their substrates and products; the construction of improved industrial yeast strains by site-directed mutagenesis, production of heterologous proteins by genetically-engineered yeasts, and factors affecting yields of such proteins as well as the use of calorimetry in control systems for yeast fermentations. This sourcebook will prove useful to everybody involved in technical applications of yeasts.

This classic series covers the complete biology and biochemistry of the yeasts in six volumes. Volume 5 addresses the major areas of yeast technology relevant to the food, pharmaceutical, and biotechnology industries. * SPECIAL FEATURES: * Final volume of a comprehensive research level edited treatise covering biochemistry physiology, technology of yeasts. The book will cover the major areas of yeast technology relevant to the food, pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Yeast are highly versatile organisms, particularly suitable for industrial purposes - this book will be of interest to many.

Yeasts play a crucial role in the sensory quality of a wide range of foods. They can also be a major cause of food spoilage. Maximising their benefits whilst minimising their detrimental effects requires a thorough understanding of their complex characteristics and how these can best be manipulated by food processors. Yeasts in food begins by describing the enormous range of yeasts together with methods for detection, identification and analysis. It then discusses spoilage yeasts, methods of control and stress responses to food preservation techniques. Against this background, the bulk of the book looks at the role of yeasts in particular types of food. There are chapters on dairy products, meat, fruit, bread, soft drinks, alcoholic beverages, soy products, chocolate and coffee. Each chapter describes the diversity of yeasts associated with each type of food, their beneficial and detrimental effects on food quality, methods of analysis and quality control. With its distinguished editors and international team of over 30 contributors, Yeasts in food is a standard reference for the food industry in maximising the contribution of yeasts to food quality. Describes the enormous range of yeasts together with methods for detection, identification and analysis Discusses spoilage yeasts, methods of control and stress responses to food preservation techniques Examines the beneficial and detrimental effects of yeasts in particular types of food, including dairy products, meat, fruit, bread, soft drinks, alcoholic beverages, soy products, chocolate and coffee

Yeasts are the world's premier industrial micro-organisms. In addition to their wide exploitation in the production of foods, beverages and pharmaceuticals, yeasts also play significant roles as model eukaryotic cells in furthering our knowledge in the biological and biomedical sciences. In order for modern biotechnology to fully exploit the activities of yeasts, it is essential to appreciate aspects of yeast cell physiology. In recent years, however, our knowledge of yeast physiological phenomena has lagged behind that of yeast genetics and molecular biology. Yeast Physiology and Biotechnology redresses the balance by linking key aspects of yeast physiology with yeast biotechnology. Individual chapters provide broad and timely coverage of yeast cytology, nutrition, growth and metabolism - important aspects of yeast cell physiology which are pertinent to the practical uses of yeasts in industry. The final chapter reviews traditional, modern and emerging biotechnologies in which roles of yeasts in the production of industrial commodities and their value in biomedical research are fully discussed. Relevant aspects of classical and modern yeast genetics and molecular biology are fully integrated into the appropriate chapters. This up-to-date and fully referenced book is aimed at advanced undergraduate and postgraduate bioscience students,but will also prove to be a valuable source of information for yeast researchers and technologists.