Production and consumption of sorbitol and fructose by saccharomyces cerevisiae ATCC 36859

Abstract The production and consumption of sorbitol by Saccharomyces cerevisiae ATCC 36859 have been studied in this work. The results showed that the strain produced ethanol and sorbitol in a fructose medium, but it generated only ethanol while growing in a glucose medium. When the strain was pregrown on fructose and transferred to a sorbitol medium, it consumed that polyol and produced ethanol and fructose. It did not grow on sorbitol when it was transferred from a glucose medium. During the growth of the strain in a glucose‐fructose medium, the sorbitol production started some time after the consumption of glucose. Both glucose and ethanol affected the production of sorbitol. Comparing the strain with a wild S. cerevisiae, it was found that the latter one did not produce sorbitol when it grew either on glucose or fructose. Furthermore, the wild strain grew well on sorbitol, regardless of whether it was pregrown on glucose or fructose but it did not produce fructose.