Hannah Ormond

Ms. Orosz
Science/Period 4
25 October 2016
Background Research

Researching yeast can change a lot of things in the real world. For example, studying the
topic and collecting data from the project can help change the way bakers bake bread and
different baked goods. I will be researching what yeast is, where it originated, and how the
temperature of where it grows affects the speed of growth. Overall, the facts and information
found during researching will help with or science experiment.

What is yeast? Many people wonder about this question. Yeast is an unicellular organism
called Saccharomyces Cerevisiae that stores its DNA in the nucleus and mitochondria. It is also a
bacteria. The DNA in the mitochondrion are different from the one in the nucleus. Yeast can
change sugar into waste, like carbon dioxide and alcohol. Since one species of yeast is a
leavening agent and creates carbon dioxide out of sugar, it mostly used in baking because they
create bubbles that cause the dough to rise. Also, this is the reason why when you rip open a
piece of bread, or bite into a cake slice, you see little holes, instead of something just solid. Yeast
is asexual, which means they make copies of themselves. They separate from the parent cell and
become independent organisms. When yeast grows, they go through many changes/phases. Yeast
can stay alive for many days. It just has to be kept in a dry and cool place. With proper warmth,

moisture and food (http://www.foodreference.com/html/a-yeast-1905.html) the yeast will

grow properly and reproduce to make more carbon dioxide as their waste. This makes the whole
population last forever, but just one cell is mortal. Yeast has a very similar structure to other cells
including human cells. Their aging is measured by how many times they divide themselves until
they die out. There are more than 600 species of yeast in the world that is widely spread
throughout nature. The different species are found in relationships with other microorganisms.
Some yeast species are also natural inhabitants of man and animals.
(http://www.dakotayeast.com/yeast_what.html). Some are specialized and only found in certain
times of the year. Others can be isolated from many different sources. The size of a typical yeast
cell is about the size of a human blood cell. Also, yeast is spherical. Because of how small yeast
is, it takes billions of yeast cells to make one gram of bakers yeast.

Yeast is like most microbes, they have an optimal temperature range. They have a huge
change in how fast or slow they grow if the temperature lowers or rises. When the temperature
gets too cold, they grow faster. And when the temperature is hotter, the yeast grows a lot faster.
This temperature range can be different with different organisms. Yeast grows best at around
30-35 degrees Celsius. When the temperature goes above 40, the yeast doesnt grow at all. If the
temperature gets below 30, the yeast starts growing a lot slower. When the temperature gets
below about 10, it doesnt do anything. The main reason is the ability of the enzymes that
catalyze all the biochemical reactions in the yeast cell to function at those temperatures.
(MadSci Network). All enzymes have a temperature range that suites it. When the temperature
gets below the range, the enzymes ability to react slows down. Above the temperature range and

the enzyme starts to become inactive. Different enzymes have different ranges of temperature.
To find out what temperature the organism stops growing at, all the enzymes dont have to be
involved for it to become inactive. Only one essential enzyme should stop working for the
organism to begin to failing. So, the first essential enzyme that becomes inactive defines the
maximum temperature that the organism can grow to. When finding the lowest temperature, the
enzymes slow down. Eventually you get to a point where they produce too little of their
product to support growth. (MadSci Network). The growth of the yeast eventually stops. Some
bacteria became adapted to grow at unusual and surprising temperatures. Bacteria that grow in
hot temperatures are called thermophilic bacteria. For example, they can grow in hot springs and
very hot temperatures. Some of the bacteria grow at 60-70 degrees Celsius and only little grow
about 80-90 degrees Celsius. The only thing most of the thermophilic bacteria cannot do, is live
in normal temperatures.

Yeast was used before man created written language! Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics
prove that they used yeast to produce alcohol and bread. The fermentation process of yeast was
unknown to early men, so it was thought to be magical and mysterious. It is believed that these
early fermentation systems for alcohol production and bread making were formed by natural
microbial contaminants of flour, other milled grains and from fruit or other juices containing
sugar. (http://www.dakotayeast.com/yeast_history.html). Leaven was a soft dough that was
used to start new bread dough. Obtaining yeast to leaven bread was very traditional for many
years. The invention of the microscope that was developed at around 1590 and the work of Louis
Pasteur helped scientists identify yeast as a living organism. After studying yeast and finding out

it caused fermentation and leavening of bread, ... it became possible to isolate yeast in pure
culture form. (http://www.dakotayeast.com/yeast_history.html). With the facts that were
studied, yeast was made into a commercial production called bakers yeast. This began in the
20th century.

In conclusion, yeast has many features that make it what it is. They store DNA in their
mitochondrion and nucleus and is mostly used in baking. There are many species of yeast,
including Saccharomyces Cerevisiae. The temperature range causes them to grow at different
speeds. Enzymes in the yeast change the temperature range and an inactive cell is caused by only
one essential enzyme starting to fail. My experiment is important because it can create a new and
different way for bakers to bake bread and other baked goods. I plan to measure how fast yeast
grows in different liquids like sports drinks, water, milk and tea. Using balloons will help
measure how much waste is given off by the yeast and will help me calculate how fast it grew.

Sugar

Bibliography:

"Yeast." Encyclopedia of Aging. . Encyclopedia.com. 3 Oct. 2016

<http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

"What Is Yeast?" Red Star Yeast. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Oct. 2016.

"What Is Yeast." What Is Yeast. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Oct. 2016.

"Re: How Does Temperature Affect Yeast Activity?" Re: How Does Temperature Affect Yeast
Activity? Michael Benedik, 30 Jan. 2001. Web. 9 Oct. 2016.

"History of Yeast." History of Yeast. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Oct. 2016.