The effect of temperature on the production of carbon dioxide over time in <i>Saccharomyces cerevisiae</i>

Abstract

Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a strain of yeast that can grow under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions, and it is widely used in the food and bio-fuel industry. The purpose of our experiment was to investigate the effect of three different temperatures (31°C, 35°C, and 39°C) on the volume of CO₂ gas produced by wild-type S. cerevisiae under aerobic conditions. The volume of CO₂ produced by four replicates and a control of S. cerevisiae (3.8x10⁷ cells/mL) at each temperature was recorded in five-minute intervals for 80 minutes. Cell concentration of each replicate was measured at the end, and the volume of CO₂ (mL) produced per cell was calculated. The results gave final volumes of 9.69 x10^-9 ±1.63 x10^-9 (mL CO₂/cell) for 31°C, 5.78 x10^-9 ± 2.66 x10^-10 (mL CO₂/cell) for 35°C, and 4.79 x10^-9 ±5.2 x10^-10 (mL CO₂/cell) for 39°C. Our two-way ANOVA generated p-values of 0.00 for the effect of temperature, 0.00 for the effect of time, and 4.13x10^-6 for the combined effect of temperature and time on the rate of CO₂ production. The data indicates that the optimal rate of CO₂ production was at 31°C at all times. The effect of temperature may be explained by enzyme kinetics, while the effect of time may be explained by growth phase curves. Not only are both factors significant on their own but increasing temperature also has an effect on CO₂ production rate at different times.