The Effect of Salinity on CO2 Production of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Abstract

The Acme Brewing and Baking Company has been researching the properties of yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) in order to maximize the fungus’ applications in alcohol and baked goods. The production of CO₂ is what causes bread to rise when baking. We decided to look at how the salinity of a solution affects the metabolic rate of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We hypothesized that an increase in environmental salinity would impact CO₂ production, because the disproportioned concentration gradient of salt will cause the yeast cells to shrivel and slow their metabolic and osmotic processes. We compared the production of CO₂ in three groups, 0%, .1% and .3% salt, over a period of 5 minutes using a CO₂ probe. On average our group without salt produced 20.1% to 28.2% more CO₂ than our groups with salt. In the end, the data supported our hypothesis. There have been conflicting results from similar studies, and ultimately more research should be conducted.