Dr. Takao Ishikawa from the University of Warsaw talks about why perhaps not all scientists should aim to become professors, and explains what we can learn from yeast proteins.

This paper presents an experimental study on Cochineal Red A dye adsorptive removal by yeast. Batch equilibrium and kinetic tests were conducted in constant temperature of 30 ◦C for the dye’s initial concentration range of 0.02–0.50 g/L (pH = 3 and 10) and 0.02–0.35 g/L (pH = 7:6). The equilibrium was reached after 105–120 min. Yeast demonstrated the adsorption capacity of 10.16 mg/g for acidic environment (pH = 3) and slightly lower values (8.13 mg/g and 8.38 mg/g respectively) for neutral (pH = 7:6) and alkaline environment (pH = 10). The experimental equilibrium results were fitted with Langmuir, Freundlich, Sips and Toth isotherm models. Most of them (Freundlich model being the exception) were proven sufficient for the experimental data correlation. The adsorption kinetic studies showed that the pseudo-second order model fits better the experimental data than the pseudo-first- order model. Results achieved from intra-particle diffusion model indicate that powdered yeast are a nonporous adsorbent. The percentage of solution discoloration reached a maximum value of 75% at pH = 3 for an initial dye concentration of 0.02 g/L.

This study was carried out to evaluate the potential effects of 90 days-long dietary supple- mentation of probiotic and yeast culture on immunity condition of lambs. Fifteen Rahmani growing male lambs (about 5 months old and 23.21±2.75 kg body weight) were randomly allo- cated to three equal groups consisting of 5 animals each. The animals in the first group, served as a control (group C), were fed a basal diet without any supplementation. The lambs in the second and third group were fed the basal diet supplemented with probiotic (group Y) or yeast culture (group YC), respectively. The probiotic consisted of live yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisae) alone, while the yeast culture was composed of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and the media on which it was grown. In group Y and YC, each lamb was supplemented daily with 0.5 g and 7.0 g of live yeast and yeast culture, respectively. Blood samples were collected before feeding the supplements and then every 15 days until the day 90th. Total and differential leucocytic counts, total protein, albumin, IgA, IgG and IgM levels were measured in blood. There were insignificant (p>0.05) variations in the levels of total and differential leucocytic counts and total protein among the groups throughout the experiment. However, significant differences (p<0.05) were found in globulin, IgA, IgG and IgM in both (Y) and (YC) groups, but the effect of yeast culture seems to be better than that of the probiotic. In conclusions, the obtained results indicate that the tested probiotic and yeast culture improve the immunological status of lambs.

The marine psychrophilic and endemic Antarctic yeast Leucosporidium antarcticum strain 171 synthesizes intracellular b-fructofuranosidase, and intra- and extracellular a-glucosidases. Each enzyme is maximally produced at 5°C , while the strain’s optimum growth temperature is 15°C . Invertase biosynthesis appeared regulated by catabolic repression, and induced by sucrose; the enzyme was extremely unstable ex vivo, and only EDTA, Mn2+, and BSA stabilized it for up to 12 h after yeast cell lysis. Thermal stability of the invertase was also low (30 min at temperatures up to 12°C). The optimum temperature for invertase activity was 30°C , and optimum pH was 4.55 to 4.75. The extracellular a-glucosidase was maximally active at 35°C and pH 6.70–7.50, and stable for 30 min up to 20°C.

The removal of organic dyes from industrial wastewater remains a problem, both technically and

economically. In this study, Yarrowia lipolytica yeast cells were isolated from poultry meat and immobilized using

alginate. The immobilized Yarrowia lipolytica yeast was used as biosorbent to remove methylene blue (MB) dye

from synthetic effl uent water. The results show that maximum adsorption capacity under optimum conditions was

66.67 mg∙g-1. The equilibrium adsorption data fi tted well onto the Freundlich adsorption isotherms with R2

>0.99.

Adsorption kinetics was of pseudo-second order process suggesting that the adsorption was a chemisorption. FTIR

spectra identifi ed typical absorption bands of a biosorbent. Sorption of MB dye on Yarrowia lipolytica yeast cells

was exothermic with weak sorption interaction.

The measured rate of release of intercellular protein from yeast cells by ultrasonication was applied for evaluating the effects of sonication reactor geometry on cell disruption rate and for validation of the simulation method. Disintegration of two strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been investigated experimentally using a batch sonication reactor equipped with a horn type sonicator and an ultrasonic processor operating at the ultrasound frequency of 20 kHz. The results have shown that the rate of release of protein is directly proportional to the frequency of the emitter surface and the square of the amplitude of oscillations and strongly depends on the sonication reactor geometry. The model based on the Helmholtz equation has been used to predict spatial distribution of acoustic pressure in the sonication reactor. Effects of suspension volume, horn tip position, vessel diameter and amplitude of ultrasound waves on the spatial distribution of pressure amplitude have been simulated. A strong correlation between the rate of protein release and the magnitude of acoustic pressure and its spatial distribution has been observed. This shows that modeling of acoustic pressure is useful for optimization of sonication reactor geometry.

Exogenous fibrolytic enzymes (EFE) and yeast are feed supplements that improve forage digestion in rumen, but their influences on physical reticulorumen parameters are not well studied. This study was designed to evaluate the effect of the EFE:endo-β-xylanase (37x104 U/cow/day), endocellulase (45x104 U/cow/day), endo-β-glucanase (12x104U/cow/day), and active yeast – Saccharomyces cerevisiae CNCM-1077 (10x109CFU/cow/day) supplements on reticulorumen pH (RpH) and temperature (RT) in dairy cows. Nine Lithuanian Red cows were allocated into three groups (3 cows/group): control group (C) – farm diet without supplementa- tion, enzyme group (E) – farm diet supplemented with EFE, enzyme and active yeast group (EY) – farm diet supplemented with EFE and active yeast. The feeding trial lasted for 60 d. All cows were equipped with reticuloruminal telemetric pH and temperature sensor device. Data provided by the device were used to calculate the mean RpH (RpH/24h), the mean minimal RpH ( RpH/24h min.) and mean of the time that RpH was below the threshold value of 6.0 (RpH<6.0/24h, min.). The highest RpH/24h (6.37±0.22) was observed in group EY and it was by 1.62% (p<0.05) and 1.27% (p<0.001) higher as compared with groups E and C, respectively. Also min RpH/24h (6.24±0.24) was highest in group EY and values were by 0.63% (p<0.001) and 0.65% (p<0.001) higher as compared with groups C and E, respectively.

The shortest duration of RpH<6.0/24h, was recorded in group EY, and it was by 57.76% (p<0.05) and 47.87% shorter as compared with groups C and E, respectively. In conclusion, feed supple- mentation with EFE and Saccharomyces cerevisiae CNCM-1077 had beneficial effect on RpH.

Saccharamyces cerevisia known as baker’s yeast is a product used in various food industries. Worldwide economic competition makes it a necessity that industrial processes be operated in optimum conditions, thus maximisation of biomass in production of saccharamyces cerevisia in fedbatch reactors has gained importance. The facts that the dynamic fermentation model must be considered as a constraint in the optimisation problem, and dynamics involved are complicated, make optimisation of fed-batch processes more difficult. In this work, the amount of biomass in the production of baker’s yeast in fed-batch fermenters was intended to be maximised while minimising unwanted alcohol formation, by regulating substrate and air feed rates. This multiobjective problem has been tackled earlier only from the point of view of finding optimum substrate rate, but no account of air feed rate profiles has been provided. Control vector parameterisation approach was applied the original dynamic optimisation problem which was converted into a NLP problem. Then SQP was used for solving the dynamic optimisation problem. The results demonstrate that optimum substrate and air feeding profiles can be obtained by the proposed optimisation algorithm to achieve the two conflicting goals of maximising biomass and minimising alcohol formation.