yeast
Sign in to saveA yeast is any species of fungus that grows primarily in a unicellular form and reproduces via budding or fission. Yeasts are eukaryotic microorganisms that originated hundreds of millions of years ago, with at least 1,500 species currently recognized. They constitute about 1% of all described fungal species.
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Yeasts are single-celled fungi that reproduce by budding or splitting apart, and they've existed for hundreds of millions of years with over 1,500 known species today. Though yeasts make up only about 1% of all described fungi, they are eukaryotic microorganisms that have been important to human life and various biological processes throughout history.
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Article
24 sectionsContents
- History
- Nutrition and growth
- Ecology
- Reproduction
- Uses
- Alcoholic beverages
- {{anchor|Beer}}Beer
- Wine
- Baking
- Bioremediation
- Industrial ethanol production
- Nonalcoholic beverages
- Foods and {{vanchor|nutritional supplements}}
- Probiotics
- Aquarium hobby
- Scientific research
- Genetically engineered biofactories
- Pathogenic yeasts
- Food spoilage
- Symbiosis
- See also
- References
- Further reading
- External links
A yeast is any species of fungus that grows primarily in a unicellular form and reproduces via budding or fission. Yeasts are eukaryotic microorganisms that originated hundreds of millions of years ago, with at least 1,500 species currently recognized. They constitute about 1% of all described fungal species.
Some yeast species have the ability to develop multicellular characteristics by forming strings of connected budding cells known as pseudohyphae or false hyphae, or quickly evolve into a multicellular cluster with specialised cell organelle functions. Yeast sizes vary greatly, depending on species and environment, typically measuring 3–4 μm in diameter, although some yeasts can grow to 40 μm in size. Most yeasts reproduce asexually by mitosis, and many do so by the asymmetric division process known as budding. With their single-celled growth habit, yeasts can be contrasted with molds, which grow hyphae. Fungal species that can take both forms (depending on temperature or other conditions) are called dimorphic fungi.