The Food that Yeast Eat

31 March 2021
Sophia Wallace
Emily Zander
Science 7th

Abstract
This experiment was to determine what the best energy source for yeast is and the best environment for
yeast. The hypothesis was that yeast being fed glucose in anaerobic condition would produce the most energy. For
this experiment, there were four tests; glucose in aerobic conditions, glucose in anaerobic conditions, triglycerides in
aerobic conditions, and triglycerides in anaerobic conditions. The hypothesis was correct. The yeast grew
significantly better whilst being fed glucose in anaerobic condition.

Introduction

Yeast is a common ingredient in the main foods or beverages that are used in everyday

life. A very important step in using yeast is its environment and the energy source used to make it

grow. For example, someone may be making a nice pizza and need the yeast to have the crust rise

but accidentally use the wrong activator for the yeast when baking the crust. Because of this

mistake it may end up with the dough not rising when put to rest which would basically ruin the

pizza. This example shows how the activator or energy source that is given to the yeast is very

important.

The reasoning for the importance of the environment and energy source used to make

yeast grow is due to the fact that yeasts are basically unicellular fungi. This gives the result of

having pseudohyphal growth. Typically, glucose is the preferred carbon and energy source for

yeast, but other things such as triglycerides can be used for the energy source. A couple other

important traits such as growth rate are; fermentation capacity and stress resistance. The other

energy source that is used a lot in baking foods is triglycerides, or fats. They can add flavour to

the food but, they do not help the yeast grow as well as the glucose.

The reasoning behind the fact that yeast grows faster and better with glucose is because of

fermentation. Yeast cells growing on glucose get their energy typically through fermentation.
Fermentation is the act of a substance breaking down into a simpler substance. Fermentation is

normally a very inefficient way of generating energy for most things. Although, in yeast growth,

fermentation is observed to be the best for it.

Another factor that is very important to growing yeast is the environment it is in. The two

conditions that will be focused on are anaerobic and aerobic conditions. Aerobic conditions are an

act of breaking down glucose/fats for energy with oxygen and anaerobic meaning without

oxygen. Yeast is facultatively anaerobic, meaning that in anaerobic conditions yeast will perform

fermentation. On the other hand using aerobic conditions will cause the yeast to perform aerobic

metabolism and energy production.

In the experiment that will be conducted, aerobic and anaerobic conditions, and yeast

affected by glucose and triglycerides will be tested. It will be testing all conditions and combining

them together to see the best method. The experiment question will be testing which is the best

for the growth of yeast or the fastest and most successful method. Research will be continued

throughout the experiment.

In the experiment there will be one container filled with half a cup of water, a teaspoon of

glucose/triglycerides, and aeration caused by an air pump with an oxygen stone. This container

will be a part of experimenting the aerobic conditions. The next container will be filled with,

again, half a cup of water, and a teaspoon of glucose/triglycerides which will be experimenting

the anaerobic conditions. The two containers will be connected to two one milliliter graduated

cylinders in water by tubes. The Co2 will travel through the tubes and into the graduated

cylinders which will measure the amount of energy that the energy source made. Each bottle will

go through two trials to determine the amount of Co2 each one creates.
Materials and Methods

- Powdered triglycerides (at least ¾ cup)

- Sugar (the glucose) (at least ¾ cup)
- Two 100-mL inverted graduated cylinders
- Two widemouth, 8 oz. squirt bottles
- Clear plastic tubing
- Waterproof thermometer
- Plastic tub
- Aquarium aerator pump
- Oxygen stone
- Packing tape
- Timer
- Measuring spoons
- Warm water (100°- 110°)
- Dry Yeast
- Water
- Two measuring cups
- Spoon (Or something to stir with)

The experiment is started by having to set up all of the materials. Fill up the plastic
tub with water halfway, boil the water to 100°- 110°, and fill up the two 100-mL inverted
graduated cylinders with water propped up in the tub with some packing tape. Label one
squirt bottle with “O2”, this will be the bottle for the aerobic testing and the other for the
anaerobic testing and attach the aquarium aerator pump to the oxygen stone. Then, once the
water is heated up (check with the thermometer), fill up the two measuring cups with a ½ cup
of water. Add one teaspoon of triglyceride powder(or sugar, depending on which one that is
being performed first) to the water. Once it is added, stir it up.

Once it is stirred, plug in the aquarium aerator pump and put the oxygen stone into the
measuring cup that will be for the aerobic testing. The water should be bubbling at this point,
leave it like that for five minutes. Once the timer is up, take out the oxygen stone and add in a
½ tsp of the yeast to both of the measuring cups. Stir until dissolved. Poor the measuring cup
that had had the oxygen stone in it into the bottle labeled “O2”. Once done with that poor the
second measuring cup into the other bottle. Connect the two bottles to two separate tubes,
make sure no water fills the tubes up. Connect the other end of the tubes to the bottom of the
two graduated cylinders.

Keep everything like that for about thirty minutes. Once the time is up, collect the
data and restart the process with the same energy source (the triglyceride powder or the sugar)
another two to three times. Once finished with the three trials, continue the same steps with
the second energy source. Collect the results and compare them to see which energy source
made the most carbon dioxide.
Data

Trial 1 (30 Trial 2 (30

minutes) minutes)
anaerobic
glucose- co2 7 mL 7 mL
aerobic
glucose- co2 70 mL 57 mL
anaerobic
triglycerides-
co2 0 mL 0.5 mL
aerobic
triglycerides-
co2 4 mL 5 mL

Results

In this experiment the data was measured by how much carbon dioxide each energy
source with different environments made. The carbon dioxide was measured in milliliters. The
results of the experiment was that the glucose in the aerobic temperature made the most amount
of energy out of all of the four combinations. No mathematical equations were used in this
experiment.

Discussion

This experiment was conducted with the hypothesis that the yeast would produce the most

energy and carbon dioxide with the energy source being glucose and the condition aerobic. The

results had proved the hypothesis correct. The glucose and aerobic conditions had produced 57

mL to 70 mL of carbon dioxide whilst every other method produced less than 7 mL of carbon

dioxide. The reasoning behind this is that yeast’s preferred energy source is glucose and it is

normally left to rest in aerobic conditions.

A problem that may have occurred when conducting this experiment is that the wrong

form of triglycerides was used. It could have been that the triglyceride powder was not right for
trying to grow the most amount of yeast as possible. Another problem that could have happened

was that there was water in the tubes. This would have been a problem because when the carbon

dioxide is traveling from the bottle to the graduated cylinder the water would be blocking it. This

would make the carbon dioxide focus mainly on getting the water out before filling up the

graduated cylinder during those thirty minutes of the trial.

Another problem that could have happened in this experiment was the amount of trials

that were performed. If maybe three to four trials had occurred instead of the two that were

conducted, better results may have been recorded. The results that are recorded are pretty

consistent, so it may not be necessary to have more than two trials. Three trials may have been

better for safety reasons.

This experiment partially proved that glucose is the preferred energy source for yeast.

Though, the experiment should be tested more times to get certain results. Possibly, a different

form of the glucose and the triglycerides. The test should also be run with different yeast, instead

of the one that was used in this experiment. Aside from the small tweaks that may need to be

made to this experiment, the hypothesis was proven correct, and the results came out as expected.

Conclusion

In this experiment the question was, “does glucose make yeast grow faster than

triglycerides in aerobic and anaerobic conditions?” Each part of the question was answered in the

experiment itself. The different conditions and different energy sources for yeast were explored

in the experiment. Each method showed very different results. The hypothesis was that the

glucose in aerobic conditions would create the most energy, which it did. The anaerobic

conditions both showed less than the aerobic conditions and the glucose had a better result than

the triglycerides when creating energy.

Personal Reflection

Due to the results, if ever trying to use yeast I will be putting it in an aerobic condition
and be feeding it glucose, for the best result. It will help with the growth rate and how much
energy is produced from the yeast. I had a nice time doing this experiment, I had done it with
my dad who helped me on a few parts. It was fun to get to learn about everything and to get to
spend extra time with my dad.

Bibliography

THORPE, R. F., and C. RATLEDGE. “Fatty Acid Distribution in Triglycerides of Yeasts

Grown on Glucose or N-Alkanes.”
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1https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/micro/10.1099/00221287-72-1-151#:~:tex
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ycerides.&text=The%20main%20advantage%20to%20be,production%20of%20plant%2Dlike%2
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“Yeast Metabolism.” Yeast, 26 Sept. 2012, pp. 25–58,

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9783527659180.ch3

Rolland, Filip, et al. “Glucose-Sensing and -Signalling Mechanisms in Yeast.” FEMS Yeast
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https://academic.oup.com/femsyr/article/2/2/183/536213

“Yeast in Aerobic and Anaerobic Conditions.” Websites.uwlax.edu,

websites.uwlax.edu/biology/FermentAnswerC.htm#:~:text=A%20Bad%20Answer-.
Accessed 6 Feb. 2021.
http://websites.uwlax.edu/biology/FermentAnswerC.htm#:~:text=A%20Bad%20Answer-,Yeast%
20are%20facultatively%20anaerobic%20which%20means%20that,fermentation%20only%20und
er%20anaerobic%20conditions.&text=Humans%20need%20O2%20to,yeast%20will%20perform
%20aerobic%20metabolism.