Yeast Sugar Metabolism looks at the biomechanics, genetics, biotechnology and applications of yeast sugar. The yeast Saccharomyces cereisiae has played a central role in the evolution of microbiology biochemistry and genetics, in addition to its use of a technical microbe for the production of alcoholic beverages and leavening of dough.

Yeast is one of the most studied laboratory organisms and represents one of the most central models to understand how any eukaryote cell works. On the other hand, yeast fermentations have for millennia provided us with a variety of biotech products, like wine, beer, vitamins, and recently also with pharmaceutically active heterologous products and biofuels. A central biochemical activity in the yeast cell is the metabolism of carbon compounds, providing energy for the whole cell, and precursors for any of the final fermentation products. A complex set of genes and regulatory pathways controls the metabolism of carbon compounds, from nutrient sensing, signal transduction, transcription regulation and post-transcriptional events. Recent advances in comparative genomics and development of post-genomic tools have provided further insights into the network of genes and enzymes, and molecular mechanisms which are responsible for a balanced metabolism of carbon compounds in the yeast cell, and which could be manipulated in the laboratory to increase the yield and quality of yeast biotech products. This book provides a dozen of most comprehensive reviews on the recent developments and achievements in the field of yeast carbon metabolism, from academic studies on gene expression to biotechnology relevant topics.

This volume scopes several aspects of non-conventional yeast research prepared by the leading specialists in the field. An introduction on taxonomy and systematics enhances the reader’s knowledge on yeasts beyond established ones such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Biotechnological approaches that involve fungal utilization of unusual substrates, production of biofuels and useful chemicals as citric acid, glutathione or erythritol are discussed. Further, strategies for metabolic engineering based on knowledge on regulation of gene expression as well as sensing and signaling pathways are presented. The book targets researchers and advanced students working in Microbiology, Microbial Biotechnology and Biochemistry.

Biotechnology including medical applications depends on the yeast as biofermenter to produce many industrial products including pharmaceutical ones. Although yeasts are first known as useful microorganisms, some of them are identified as pathogens for plants, animals, and humans. Due to the simple cellular structure of the yeast among other microbial groups, it is used in the earliest investigations to determine the features of eukaryotic molecular biology, cell biology, and physiology. The economic income of some countries mainly depends on yeast for producing the economic products, such as France that depends on yeast for wine production. This book throws light on yeast and its important role in the medical applications.

The second edition of the book begins with the description of the diversity of wine-related microorganisms, followed by an outline of their primary and energy metabolism. Subsequently, important aspects of the secondary metabolism are dealt with, since these activities have an impact on wine quality and off-flavour formation. Then chapters about stimulating and inhibitory growth factors follow. This knowledge is helpful for the growth management of different microbial species. The next chapters focus on the application of the consolidated findings of molecular biology and regulation the functioning of regulatory cellular networks, leading to a better understanding of the phenotypic behaviour of the microbes in general and especially of the starter cultures as well as of stimulatory and inhibitory cell-cell interactions during wine making. In the last part of the book, a compilation of modern methods complete the understanding of microbial processes during the conversion of must to wine.This broad range of topics about the biology of the microbes involved in the vinification process could be provided in one book only because of the input of many experts from different wine-growing countries.

Since the publication of the best-selling first edition, much has been discovered about Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the single-celled fungus commonly known as baker's yeast or brewer's yeast that is the basis for much of our understanding of the molecular and cellular biology of eukaryotes. This wealth of new research data demands our attention and r