Rising to the Challenge is the “Yeast” We Can Do: The effects of different vitamin-concentrated molasses solutions on CO₂ production

Abstract

Saccharomyces cerevisiae, also known as Baker’s yeast, is one of the most commonly used organisms in industry today (Weiss 2016).  Through anaerobic respiration, these organisms revert to the process of glycolysis to produce energy for the cell (Chaddrick 2016).  In hopes of discovering a substance that increases the respiratory rate of yeast, my group looked into the effects of different vitamin-concentrated solutions of molasses.  Inspired by Tokashiki’s work with molasses and yeast, our group diluted two different vitamin-concentrated solutions of molasses and compared their results to the results of a glucose solution.  We hypothesized that the presence of certain vitamins and minerals in molasses will result in a higher carbon dioxide production, and after three trials with each group, our group concluded that molasses is an effective means as to increasing the carbon dioxide emission rates of yeast.