Skip to content
Saccharomyces
EntityQ1146293· pop 29· linked from 89 articles

Saccharomyces

Sign in to save

Saccharomyces is a genus of fungi that includes many species of yeasts. The name Saccharomyces is from Greek () and () and means sugar fungus. Many members of this genus are considered very important in food production where they are known as brewer's yeast, baker's yeast and sourdough starter among others. They are unicellular and saprotrophic fungi. One example is Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which is used in making bread, wine, and beer, and for human and animal health. Other members of this genus include the wild yeast Saccharomyces paradoxus that is the closest relative to S. cerevisiae, Sac

Species

サッカロミケス属

GENUS

  1. KingdomFungi
  2. PhylumAscomycota
  3. ClassSaccharomycetes
  4. OrderSaccharomycetales
  5. FamilySaccharomycetaceae
Habitatmarine, brackish, freshwater
Observations recorded15,227

via GBIF

Museum specimens

Specimen records
48
With media
25
Family
Saccharomycetaceae
Collections
NY, F, NEB, NYSM, CUP, FH
Recorded in
Peru, Austria, Nicaragua, Germany, United States, Italy, France, Czech Republic

Research

158,492 papers

via PubMed

Wikidata facts

Instance of
taxon
Parent taxon
Saccharomycetaceae
Image
S cerevisiae under DIC microscopy.jpg
Show 6 more facts
taxon rank
genus
taxon name
Saccharomyces
Commons category
Saccharomyces
topic's main category
Category:Saccharomyces
taxon author citation
Meyen ex E.C. Hansen
Sources (4)

via Wikidata · CC0

~4 min read

Encyclopedic overview

8 sections
Contents
  • Morphology
  • Cellular morphology
  • History
  • Use in brewing
  • Pathology
  • See also
  • References
  • External links

Saccharomyces is a genus of fungi that includes many species of yeasts. The name Saccharomyces is from Greek () and () and means sugar fungus. Many members of this genus are considered very important in food production where they are known as brewer's yeast, baker's yeast and sourdough starter among others. They are unicellular and saprotrophic fungi. One example is Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which is used in making bread, wine, and beer, and for human and animal health. Other members of this genus include the wild yeast Saccharomyces paradoxus that is the closest relative to S. cerevisiae, Saccharomyces bayanus, used in making wine, and Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. boulardii, used in medicine.

==Morphology== Colonies of Saccharomyces grow rapidly and mature in three days. They are flat, smooth, moist, glistening or dull, and cream in color. The inability to use nitrate and ability to ferment various carbohydrates are typical characteristics of Saccharomyces.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Saccharomyces” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (3)