Saccharomyces cerevisiae Fermentation Services

BOC Sciences has established a comprehensive strain development platform. We are able to utilize Saccharomyces cerevisiae, one of the most important microbial strains, as host cells to provide a variety of microbial fermentation services. With extensive experience in microbial fermentation, we can offer one-stop fermentation CDMO services ranging from laboratory fermentation to large-scale microbial manufacturing. Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a model organism and valuable tool for researching sexual genetics, gene function, and interactions. In addition, with the utilization of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae system, we can provide industrial solutions for customers in various fields, including food, beverage, biofuel, etc.

Introduction of S. cerevisiae

Saccharomyces cerevisiae, abbreviated as S. cerevisiae, is a single-celled fungal organism that belongs to the yeast. S. cerevisiae cells are round or ovoid, 5–10 μm in diameter. S. cerevisiae is usually found in leaves and trunks of various plant species. S. cerevisiae has been successfully used as a model organism to study the biological processes of higher eukaryotes due to its simplicity in growth and genetic manipulation.

It is worth mentioning that S. cerevisiae was the first eukaryotic sequenced genome. S. cerevisiae is a unicellular fungus with 12,068 kilobases of nuclear genomic DNA organized in 16 chromosomes. In 1996, S. cerevisiae's genome was completely sequenced and found to contain approximately 6,000 genes, including 5,570 were predicted to be protein-coding genes.

Advantages of S. cerevisiae Fermentation

Culture: S. cerevisiae is a single-celled organism of small size, short generation time of 1.25-2 hrs for doubling, and easy to culture, thus allowing rapid productions at low costs.
Growth: S. cerevisiae fermentation is accompanied by alcohol and carbon dioxide production and is highly adaptable to unfavorable conditions, including osmotic pressure and low pH.
Research: S. cerevisiae is a valuable tool for most basic eukaryotic research. In fact, almost all biological functions found in eukaryotes are presented and well preserved in S. cerevisiae, including its readily amenable characteristic to genetic manipulation.

Applications of S. cerevisiae Fermentation

Due to S. cerevisiae's high conservation of fundamental biochemical pathways and notable gene homology, the study of yeast has been a critical step to reveal various biological processes, including cell cycle, DNA repair mechanisms, as well as mRNA translation and degradation.
S. cerevisiae has played a vital role in brewing, baking and winemaking. It is a major source of nutritional yeast and can be sold commercially as a food product. S. cerevisiae is commonly used in vegetarians and vegans products, such as general food additives or vitamins and minerals sources, especially amino acids and vitamins.
S. cerevisiae is an industrial ethanol production protagonist. Unlike petroleum fuels, bioethanol can be used alone and revealed advantages such as higher octane number, broader flammability limits, higher flame speed and heat of vaporization. Moreover, bioethanol is less toxic, readily biodegradable and environmentally friendly to air pollutants.
Yeast genetics and high-throughput screening have made essential contributions to the drug development of vaccines and antivirals. The process of discovering and developing new drugs benefits from large-scale chemical and genetic tools developed by S. cerevisiae allows systematic screening of selected drugs' putative targets and effects observation. For example, yeast has been used to produce recombinant antigens for the development of hepatitis B preventive vaccines.

Project Workflow of S. cerevisiae Fermentation

Customer advisory
Project discussion
S. cerevisiae served as host cell
Strain improvement and fermentation development
Novel strain evaluation
Project delivery

References

Rui P Galao, et al. Saccharomyces cerevisiae: a versatile eukaryotic system in virology, Microbial Cell Factories, 2007, 6, 32.
Maria Parapouli, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and its industrial applications, AIMS Microbiol. 2020; 6(1): 1–31.
Valenzuela P, et al. Synthesis and assembly of hepatitis B virus surface antigen particles in yeast, Nature, 1982, 298 (5872): 347-350.