Table Of ContentYeasts in Natural and Artificial Habitats
Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg GmbH
J.F.T. Spencer D.M. Spencert (Eds.)
Yeasts in Natural
and Artificial
Habitats
With 59 Figures and 28 Tables
Springer
John F.T. Spencer
Dorothy M. Spencert
PROIMI
Avenida Belgrano y Pasaje Caseros
4000 S.M. de Tucuman
Argentina
ISBN 978-3-642-08160-6
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data. Spencer, John F.T. Yeasts in natural and
artificial habitats/).F.T. Spencer, D.M. Spencer. p. em. Includes bibliographical references
and index.
ISBN 978-3-642-08160-6 ISBN 978-3-662-03370-8 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-662-03370-8
I. Yeast fungi. I. Spencer, Dorothy M. II. Title.
QK617.S.S65 1997 579.5'63-dc21 96-50359
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©Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 1997
Originally published by Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg New York in 1997
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, etc. in this publication does not
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Dedication
This book is dedicated to our many friends throughout the world who
share our enthusiasm for the yeasts. It is dedicated in particular to my
coauthor and devoted wife, Dorothy Spencer, who, besides her part in
the writing of the book, did a great deal of the work of correcting my
numerous typographical and similar errors, and who died of cancer
before she could have the satisfaction of seeing that her labors were not
in vain.
J.F.T. Spencer
Contents
A Guide to the World of the Yeasts
J.F.T. Spencer and D.M. Spencer ........................ .
1 Historical Introduction: Yeasts and Man in the Past
J.F.T. Spencer and D.M. Spencer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2 Taxonomy: The Names of the Yeasts
J.F.T. Spencer and D.M. Spencer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3 Ecology: Where Yeasts Live
J.F.T. Spencer and D.M. Spencer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
4 Ecology: The Bad Guys: Pathogens of Humans
and Other Animals
J.F.T. Spencer and D.M. Spencer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
5 Yeasts as Living Objects: Yeast Nutrition
J.F.T. Spencer, D.M. Spencer, and L.I.C. de Figueroa 68
6 Outside and Inside: The Morphology and Cytology
of the Yeast Cell
J.F.T. Spencer and D.M. Spencer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
7 Membranes
M. Hofer.......................................... 95
8 The Yeasts: Sex and Nonsex. Life Cycles, Sporulation
and Genetics
J.F.T. Spencer and D.M. Spencer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
9 Chemical Warfare Among the Yeasts:
the "Killer" Phenomenon, Genetics and Applications
V. Vondrejs and Z. Palkova . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
VIII Contents
10 Inside the Inside: Part I: Yeasts and Molecular Biology,
A Recipe for Alphabet Soup. Chromosome Structure,
Replication, Transcription, and Translation
J.F.T. Spencer and D.M. Spencer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
11 Inside the Inside: Part II: The Regulators.
Cell Specialization: a Regulatory Hierarchy
].F.T. Spencer and D.M. Spencer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
12 Yeasts and the Life of Man: Part I: Helpers and Hinderers.
"Traditional" Yeast-Based Industries; Spoilage Yeasts
J.F.T. Spencer and D.M. Spencer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
13 Yeasts and the Life of Man: Part II: Genetics
and Molecular Biology of Industrial Yeasts and Processes
].F.T. Spencer and D.M. Spencer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
14 Genetics and Molecular Biology of Methylotrophic Yeasts
E. Berardi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
15 Yeasts in Food Fermentations and Therapeutics
G. Vijayalakshmi, B.K. Lonsane, and M.M. Krishnaiah 295
16 Yeasts and Energy. The Production of Fuel-Grade Ethanol
B.K. Lonsane, G. Vijayalakshmi, and M.M. Krishnaiah . . . 315
Notes Added in Proof.................................. 353
Subject Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357
Species Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 3
List of Contributors
Berardi, Enrico, Dipartimento di Biologie Agrarie ed Ambientale,
Universita degli Studi di Ancona, 60131 Ancona, Italia
de Figueroa, L.I.C., PROIMI, Avenida Belgrano y Pasaje Caseros,
4000 S.M. de Tucuman, Argentina
HOfer, Milan, Botanisches Institut, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms
Universitlit, Kirschallee 1, 53115 Bonn, Germany
Krishnaiah, M.M., Central Food Technological Research Institute,
Microbiology & Fermentations, Mysore 570013, India
Lonsane, B.K., Central Food Technological Research Institute,
Microbiology & Fermentations, Mysore 570013, India
Palkova, Z., Dept. of Genetics and Microbiology, Faculty of Science,
Charles University, Vinicna 5, 128 44 Prague, Czech Republic
Spencer\ Dorothy M., PROIMI, Avenida Belgrano y Pasaje Caseros,
4000 S.M. de Tucuman, Argentina
Spencer, John F.T., PROIMI, Avenida Belgrano y Pasaje Caseros,
4000 S.M. de Tucuman, Argentina
Vijayalakshmi, G., Central Food Technological Research Institute,
Microbiology & Fermentations, Mysore 570013, India
Vondrejs, V., Dept. of Genetics and Microbiology, Faculty of Science,
Charles University, Vinicna 5, 128 44 Prague, Czech Republic
INTRODUCTION
A Guide to the World of the Yeasts
J.F.T. Spencer and D.M. Spencert
As the well-known authority on yeasts, the late Professor Rose, frequently pointed
out, it is impossible for one person to present, in a single volume, the details of the
life, composiotion, habitats, relationships, and actual and potential uses to man
kind of the 500 (at last count) known species of yeasts. This book confirms the
truth of this statement. However, our aim is actually more modest than that, and
this book is an attempt to introduce the general reader, and possibly some inter
ested specialists, to the lives of the yeasts in their natural and more artificial
habitats, their use by human beings, and to give some idea of the wonderfully
complex activities within the yeast cell, the characteristics of the metabolism and
molecular biology of yeasts, and the applications of these characteristics to life in
the present-dayworld ofhuman existence. The book proceeds from a brief chapter
on what is and is not known of the origins and early history of the yeasts, through
a description of their classification, relationships, habitats and general life style,
their external morphology and internal structures and mechanisms within their
cells, the regulatory mechanisms controlling processes such as signal transmis
sion, mating, cell fusion, and many others.
To prove the earlier contention that it is impossible for one person to describe
adequately everything about every yeasts, there are special sections dealing with
yeast membranes, killer factor, and in the part of the book dealing with the impact
of yeasts on the human condition, we have included sections on fundamental and
applied aspects of the methylotrophic yeasts, yeasts in fermented foods, and use of
yeasts in production of fuel alcohol. As the originators and authors of the book, we
are extremely grateful to these specialists for their valuable contributions to the
volume.
In conclusion, we would like to thank our friends, once again, who have made
substantial contributions to this task, in the hope that they will enjoy seeing the
book in print and reading it. We thank them for their patience and understanding
of the task we have had as authors ourselves, and as editors of their work. We
would like also to express our thanks to Dr. Faustino Sifieriz and all our friends at
PROIMI for their advice and encouragement during our work on the book.
).F.T. Spencer/D.M. Spencer (eds)
Yeasts in Natural and Artificial Habitats
©Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 1997
CHAPTER 1
Historical Introduction: Yeasts and Man in the Past
J.F.T. Spencer and D.M. Spencer
1 From Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Modern Era
Fossil yeasts are unknown. Fungal spores have been found in fossiliferous materi
als, and yeasts may have been associated with them, but they have not been
recognized. The sight of a yeast ascus containing ascospores, or of the zigzag
configuration of the arthrospores of a fossilized Trichosporon species, would en
able a paleobotanist to place the yeasts more accurately in time. There may be a
long wait for such a discovery, though ancient diatoms, algae, and other micro
organisms have been seen, and eventually a yeast ascus may be found, resting
peacefully in its amber tomb (Poinar et al. 1993).
Yeasts have been known, indirectly, "only" for a few thousand years. The first
peoples to eat leavened bread and drink beverages such as wines were either the
Egyptians or one of the other civiizations of the Fertile Crescent. They knew
the uses of yeasts but not their identity. Beer may have been discovered at about
the same time, possibly by some farmer who was soaking a pot of grain in water,
to make it more palatable to his domestic animals. It is known that the Egyptians
knew bread, beer, and wine. The knowledge was probably shared by the other
peoples of the region, and by those of the land with whose inhabitants they traded
-India.
The use of yeasts in breadmaking may have arisen through some of the early
methods of cooking raw flour. For instance, in making salt-rising bread, the flour
and a weak brine are mixed and kept warm, probably at about 30 °C, until the
volume of the mixture approximately doubles, and this is then mixed with more
flour and warm water and allowed to rise again. The normal practice in all
breadmaking, when commercial yeast or spent yeast from breweries is not avail
able, is to save a portion of the uncooked dough to start the next batch. The better
batches of starter would probably be propagated as long as possible, and would
have consisted predominantly of yeasts. In this way, the characteristic odor of
yeast starters would have been recognized, very early, and would have been fa
vored by the women who did the real work of baking; they would in all probability
have traded the "good" starters, which would have been largely yeasts.
Unleavened bread is known from flat loaves dating from at least 6000 B.C. in
Egypt. If a dough mix of this sort were left to stand for any reason, fermented
spontaneously, and was then baked, the result would be naturally leavened bread.
From there to deliberately leavened loaves is only a short step. The odor of rising
J.F.T. Spencer/D.M. Spencer (eds)
Yeasts in Natural and Artificial Habitats
©Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 1997
