Addition of benzoate to the medium reservoir of glucose‐limited chemostat cultures of Saccharomyces cerevisiae CBS 8066 growing at a dilution rate (D) of 0.10 h−1 resulted in a decrease in the biomass yield, and an increase in the specific oxygen uptake rate (qO2) from 2.5 to as high as 19.5 mmol g−1h−1. Above a critical concentration, the presence of benzoate led to alcoholic fermentation and a reduction in (qO2) to 13 mmol g−1h−1. The stimulatory effect of benzoate on respiration was dependent on the dilution rate: at high dilution rates respiration was not enhanced by benzoate. Cells could only gradually adapt to growth in the presence of benzoate: a pulse of benzoate given directly to the culture resulted in wash‐out. As the presence of benzoate in cultures growing at low dilution rates resulted in large changes in the catabolic glucose flux, it was of interest of study the effect of benzoate on the residual glucose concentration in the fermenter as well as on the level of some selected enzymes. At D=0.10 h−1, the residual glucose concentration increased proportionally with increasing benzoate concentration. This suggests that modulation of the glucose flux mainly occurs via a change in the entracellular glucose concentration rather than by synthesis of an additional amount of carriers. Also various intracellular enzyme levels were not positively correlated with the rate of respiration. A notable exception was citrate synthase: its level increased with increasing respiration rate. Growth ofS. cerevisiae in ethanol‐limited cultures in the presence of benzoate also led to very high qO2 levels of 19–21 mmol g−1h−1. During growth on glucose as well as on ethanol, the presence of benzoate coincided with an increase in the mitochondrial volume up to one quarter of the total cellular volume. Also with the Crabtree‐negative yeasts Candida utilis, Kluyveromyces marxianus andHansenula polymorpha, growth in the presence of benzoate resulted in an increase in qO2 and, at high concentrations of benzoate, in aerobic fermentation. In contrast to S.Cerevisiae, the highest qO2 of these yeasts when growing at D = 0.10 h−1 in the presence of benzoate was equal to, or lower than the qO2 attainable at μmax without benzoate. Enzyme activities that were repressed by glucose in S. cerevisiae also declined in K.Marxianus when the glucose flux was increased by the presence of benzoate. The maximal aerobic fermentation rate at D = 0.10 h−1 of the Crabtree‐negative yeasts at high benzoate concentrations was considerably lower than for S. cerevisiae. This is probably due to the fact that under aerobic conditions these yeasts are unable to raise the low basal pyruvate decarboxylase level: cultivation without benzoate under oxygen‐limited conditions resulted in rates of alcoholic fermentation and levels of pyruvate decarboxylase comparable to those of S. cerevisiae.

The physiology of Saccharomyces cerevisiae CBS 8066 was studied in anaerobic glucose-limited chemostat cultures in a mineral medium supplemented with ergosterol and Tween 80. The organism had a pmax of 0.31 h-l and a K, for glucose of 0.55 mM. At a dilution rate of 0.10 h-l, a maximal yield of 0.10 g biomass (g glucose)-' was observed. The yield steadily declined with increasing dilution rates, so a maintenance coefficient for anaerobic growth could not be estimated At a dilution rate of 0.10 h-l, the yield of the S . cereuisiae strain H1022 was considerably higher than for CBS 8066, despite a similar cell composition. The major difference between the two yeast strains was that S . cerevisiae H1022 did not produce acetate, suggesting that the observed difference in cell yield may be ascribed to an uncoupling effect of acetic acid. The absence of acetate formation in H1022 correlated with a relatively high level of acetyl-CoA synthetase. The uncoupling effect of weak acids on anaerobic growth was confirmed in experiments in which a weak acid (acetate or propionate) was added to the medium feed. This resulted in a reduction in yield and an increase in specific ethanol production. Both yeasts required approximately 35 mg oleic acid (g biomass)-' for optimal growth. Lower or higher concentrations of this fatty acid, supplied as Tween 80, resulted in uncoupling of dissimilatory and assimilatory processes.

The physiology of Saccharomyces cerevisiae CBS 8066 was studied in glucose-limited chemostat cultures. Below a dilution rate of 0.30 h-' glucose was completely respired, and biomass and CO2 were the only products formed. Above this dilution rate acetate and pyruvate appeared in the culture fluid, accompanied by disproportional increases in the rates of oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide production. This enhanced respiratory activity was accompanied by a drop in cell yield from 0.50 to 0.47 g (dry weight) g of glucose-'. At a dilution rate of 0.38 h-1 the culture reached its maximal oxidation capacity of 12 mmol of 02 g (dry weight)-' h-. A further increase in the dilution rate resulted in aerobic alcoholic fermentation in addition to respiration, accompanied by an additional decrease in cell yield from 0.47 to 0.16 g (dry weight) g of glucose-'. Since the high respiratory activity of the yeast at intermediary dilution rates would allow for full respiratory metabolism of glucose up to dilution rates close to jLmax. we conclude that the occurrence of alcoholic fermentation is not primarily due to a limited respiratory capacity. Rather, organic acids produced by the organism may have an uncoupling effect on its respiration. As a result the respiratory activity is enhanced and reaches its maximum at a dilution rate of 0.38 h-'. An attempt was made to interpret the dilution rate-dependent formation of ethanol and acetate in glucose-limited chemostat cultures of S. cerevisiae CBS 8066 as an effect of overflow metabolism at the pyruvate level. Therefore, the activities of pyruvate decarboxylase, NAD+and NADP+-dependent acetaldehyde dehydrogenases, acetyl coenzyme A (acetyl-CoA) synthetase, and alcohol dehydrogenase were determined in extracts of cells grown at various dilution rates. From the enzyme profiles, substrate affinities, and calculated intracellular pyruvate concentrations, the following conclusions were drawn with respect to product formation of cells growing under glucose limitation. (i) Pyruvate decarboxylase, the key enzyme of alcoholic fermentation, probably already is operative under conditions in which alcoholic fermentation is absent. The acetaldehyde produced by the enzyme is then oxidized via acetaldehyde dehydrogenases and acetyl-CoA synthetase. The acetyl-CoA thus formed is further oxidized in the mitochondria. (ii) Acetate formation results from insufficient activity of acetyl-CoA synthetase, required for the complete oxidation of acetate. Ethanol formation results from insufficient activity of acetaldehyde dehydrogenases. The observed pattern of metabolite production in chemostat cultures is in agreement with the conditions under which these insufficiencies can be calculated to occur. The uncoupling effect of weak acids on respiration and the associated triggering of alcoholic fermentation were confirmed in chemostat experiments in which the yeast was grown in the presence of propionate. In this case, the maximal respiratory activity was attained at a dilution rate of 0.30 h-1, above which alc...

The central role of the redox couples NAD+/NADH and NADP+/NADPH in the metabolism of sugars by yeasts is discussed in relation to energy metabolism and product formation. Besides their physical compartmentation in cytosol and mitochondria, the two coenzyme systems are separated by chemical compartmentation as a consequence of the absence of transhydrogenase activity. This has considerable consequences for the redox balances of both coenzyme systems and hence for sugar metabolism in yeasts. As examples, the competition between respiration and fermentation of glucose, the Crabtree effect, the Custers effect, adaptation to anaerobiosis, the activities of the hexose monophosphate pathway, and the fermentation of xylose in yeast are discussed.

Fuel ethanol production from plant biomass hydrolysates by Saccharomyces cerevisiae is of great economic and environmental significance. This paper reviews the current status with respect to alcoholic fermentation of the main plant biomass-derived monosaccharides by this yeast. Wild-type S. cerevisiae strains readily ferment glucose, mannose and fructose via the Embden-Meyerhof pathway of glycolysis, while galactose is fermented via the Leloir pathway. Construction of yeast strains that efficiently convert other potentially fermentable substrates in plant biomass hydrolysates into ethanol is a major challenge in metabolic engineering. The most abundant of these compounds is xylose. Recent metabolic and evolutionary engineering studies on S. cerevisiae strains that express a fungal xylose isomerase have enabled the rapid and efficient anaerobic fermentation of this pentose.L-Arabinose fermentation, based on the expression of a prokaryotic pathway in S. cerevisiae, has also been established, but needs further optimization before it can be considered for industrial implementation. In addition to these already investigated strategies, possible approaches for metabolic engineering of galacturonic acid and rhamnose fermentation by S. cerevisiae are discussed. An emerging and major challenge is to achieve the rapid transition from proof-of-principle experiments under 'academic' conditions (synthetic media, single substrates or simple substrate mixtures, absence of toxic inhibitors) towards efficient conversion of complex industrial substrate mixtures that contain synergistically acting inhibitors.