Respiration of Sugars by Yeast

Introduction

Yeast are able to metabolize some foods, but not others. In order for an organism to make use of a potential source of food, it must be capable of transporting the food into its cells. It must also have the proper enzymes capable of breaking the food’s chemical bonds in a useful way. Sugars are vital to all living organisms. Yeast are capable of using some, but not all sugars as a food source. Yeast can metabolize sugar in two ways, aerobically, with the aid of oxygen, or anaerobically, without oxygen.

In this lab, you will try to determine whether yeast are capable of metabolizing a variety of sugars. When yeast respire aerobically, oxygen gas is consumed and carbon dioxide, CO₂, is produced. You will use a CO₂ Gas Sensor to monitor the production of carbon dioxide as yeast respire using different sugars. The four sugars that will be tested are glucose (blood sugar), sucrose (table sugar), fructose (fruit sugar), and lactose (milk sugar).

Objectives

In this experiment, you will

• Use a CO₂ Gas Sensor to measure concentrations of carbon dioxide.
• Determine the rate of respiration by yeast while using different sugars.
• Determine which sugars can be used as a food source by yeast.