The Invisible ABCs

Exploring the World of Microbes...

Letter r

Saccharomyces

Habitat:

 

Saccharomyces in its natural environment grows on the surface of fruits.  Since ancient times, Saccharomyces has been grown in cultures to be used for baking and brewing of beer and wines.

 

Importance:

 

Saccharomyces can ferment sugars to alcohol and carbon dioxide.  It is added to fruit juice or malt to form wine and beer.  When it ferments the sugars in bread dough, the carbon dioxide puffs up the bread so that it is light and fluffy.

Saccharomyces is also an important research organism.  It is used to study complicated problems in the fields of molecular and cell biology.

 

Classification:

 

Saccharomyces belongs to a group of microscopic fungi called yeast.  Yeast reproduce by small daughter cells budding off from a larger mother cell.