Yeast and its Effect on Sugars

By: Emily Sapio

Joshua Grano

Through the recognition of how yeast interacts with sugars, we can observe how cells

work in different forms to break down molecules into smaller components to provide

useful energy. In this experiment, we observed how Baker’s yeast acts upon the

monosaccharides, glucose and fructose, and on the disaccharides, sucrose and

lactose. By comparing how CO2 is produced through the necessary inclusion of O2, we

can understand how humans and aerobic organisms catabolic processes are very

similar. Yeast breaks down sugars in two ways, through aerobic respiration and

fermentation. With the use of oxygen, aerobic respiration takes place through several

pathways to create CO2 and metabolize the sugars. Without oxygen, metabolic

processes can still take place through fermentation. Yeast results in the production of

ethanol, while in contrast, humans yield lactic acid. Through this experiment, we will

uncover that lactose and lactaid together will result in the highest metabolic rate and

produce the most CO2 out of the rest of the metabolised sugars.

In the first table, the group’s raw data, we collected the readings of the metabolic

rate every 20 seconds up to 4 minutes for each sugar that was studied. In the second

table, the corrected rates average of each sugar was taken and recorded them there. In

the last table the averages of each groups results were recorded and compared.

1.Why do you need to incubate the yeast before you start collecting data?
 Yeast needs to be heated at a specific rate to insure the sugar is not

burned to quickly and lacks in producing results. The denaturing of the

enzyme will occur if the temperature is too high, resulting in the respiration

rate to decrease.(Westminster College)

2. Compare your individual group’s metabolic rates for each sugar vs. the class

average. What can you conclude from this comparison?

Overall, each sugar the individual group studied resulted in very similar

rates than the group average. Fructose had an identical rate, while lactose

was very close also. Glucose was about 1 ppm/sec higher and the same

with the lactose with lactaid.

3.Considering the class average results for this experiment, did the Baker’s yeast

metabolize some sugars better than others? If so rank the sugars in order from

best to worst.

It was found that the lactose with lactaid metabolized the best. Following

that is glucose, sucrose, fructose, then lactose.

4.Why do some sugars metabolize better than others?

Yeast metabolizes sugar through implementing the enzyme zymase.

Yeast is able to break down specific sugars better than others due to how

zymase’s properties and interaction with the the sugar molecules. It catalyzes

better with specific sugars better than others. The lactase acts upon the lactose

by breaking the large molecule down into glucose and galactose, which yeast

can then metabolize very fast.(Bell)

 5.What molecule is produced when human cells metabolize sugars without

oxygen?

Humans produce lactic acid through the process of fermentation when oxygen is

not present.

In the first chart, with the use of a CO2 gas sensor, we monitored the metabolic

rate yeast has on each sugar that was studied with water as the control. Every 20

seconds the rate was recorded up to 4 minutes. With that information the corrected data

was recorded. With that finished, the second chart was made by taking the corrected

rates and collecting the average metabolic rates of each sugar. By doing this, we found

that lactose with lactaid and glucose had the highest metabolic rates at 10 ppm/sec.

Lastly, the metabolic rate averages of all of the groups were collected in order to

determine whether or not the metabolising of the different sugars by yeast were

consistent or if yeast acted upon any of the sugars differently. It was concluded that all

of the groups’ data ran pretty consistently and that yeast acted upon each sugar

similarly, with lactaid with lactose yielding the highest CO2. The group averages of

sucrose failed to be the only rate that did not run as closely to our group, producing

almost 5ppm/sec higher than the group. This is most likely due to one specific groups

results being much more inconsistent than the rest of the groups. Overall, each group

came to the same conclusion that lactose with lactaid had the highest metabolic rate

and produced the most CO2.

 Westminster College

https://www.westminster.edu/about/community/sim/documents/SEffectofTempera

tureonFermentation.pdf

Bell, Becky; 27 December 2018 https://healthyeating.sfgate.com/lactose-break-

down-normal-individuals-9820.html