Catalytic activity of baker's yeast in ester hydrolysis

Abstract

The hydrolysis of phenyl esters of alkane carboxylic acids in the presence of lyophilized Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been studied. In the case of phenyl acetate the hydrolysis obeyed Michaelis–Menten kinetics, behavior typical of esterase-catalyzed reactions. For phenyl laurate our experiments provided evidence for the growth-associated production of lipase by baker's yeast.

Keywords::

• Baker's yeast
• hydrolysis
• lipase

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.