The Effects of Varying Salt (NaCl) Concentrations On Saccharomyces cerevisiae: Is Growth Limited?

Abstract

In previous studies yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) has been observed to be affected by NaCl, or table salt, showing different results that affected the outcome of experiments. We hypothesized that the yeast will have a lower CO2 production when mixed with higher amounts of salt. By using a CO2 probe, we were able to measure the different outputs of carbon dioxide with different concentrations of salt (0.02, 0.04, and 0.06). Looking at our results, after analyzing the data, we found that the more NaCl you add into the yeast, the CO2 production decreases, therefore, our hypothesis was supported.