THE STRUCTURAL AND STORAGE CARBOHYDRATES OFSACCHAROMYCES CEREVISIAE: CHANGES DURING FERMENTATION OF WORT AND A ROLE FOR GLYCOGEN CATABOLISM IN LIPID BIOSYNTHESIS

Abstract

Detailed analysis of the structural and storage carbohydrates of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (NCYC 240) during wort fermentation showed that there were no significant changes in the amounts of trehalose or alkali-soluble glycogen. However, glucan and mannan individually increased from ca4% of the yeast dry weight at pitching to ca6% during the first 3–17 h of fermentation, butthen declined to the former level. In the first 2 h of fermentation, prior to yeast multiplication, acid-soluble glycogen was rapidly dissimilated from ca 40% to ca 6% of the yeast dry weight. During this period of oxygen uptake, wort sugars were not removed by the yeast. Glycogen, therefore, was the sole source of metabolic energy for lipid resynthesis and hexose transport appeared to require the formation of a component membrane. During the latter phase of fermentation when the yeast was not growing but expending energy for maintenance of cellular functions, glycogen reserves were slowly depleted; after a period of prolonged anaerobic storage, the content of glycogen fell well below that which was initially present in the pitching yeast.