Paper on Unveiling the Secrets of Yeast - Taxonomy, Metabolism, Habitat, and Genomic Sequencing

Introduction

Microbes are tiny organisms that cannot be seen with the naked eye. Some of these microorganisms are crucial to the survival of human beings, while others are toxic. Typical microbes include viruses, bacteria, and fungus. Fungi are very critical in the contemporary world as they are used in ecosystems to recycle nutrients and also the manufacturing of antibiotics such as penicillin -produced using a mold (Yakop, Farazimah, & Taha 733). However, several fungi are harmful to human health. For instance, parasitic yeasts can lead to a condition called candidiasis, which typically affects women mostly. Yeasts are single-cell organisms that require moisture, warmth, and food to grow. As a result, this paper, therefore, aims at discussing yeast microbe in terms of their classification, metabolism, habitat, environment tolerances, societal roles, and genome sequence.

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Taxonomic Classification of Yeast

The Kingdom fungi are classified into five different phyla based on their sexual reproduction modes (Brandt 1936). However, there are unrelated fungi that usually don't reproduce sexually and are classified in the "form phylum." The five fungi phyla include the Zygomycota, Chytridiomycota, Ascomycota, Glomeromycota, and Basidiomycota. Yeasts belong in the Ascomycota phyla. Yeasts are generally vital since they are highly applicable in brewing alcoholic beverages in addition to baking bread. These single-cell fungi can be classified according to domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species. The microbes belong to the eukaryote domain as a result of their double DNA stranded enclosed nucleus. Yeasts belong to kingdom fungi, and their diverse evolutionary nature enables them to be classified into Basidiomycota and Ascomycota phyla. The sac fungi (Ascomycota) are characterized by the establishment of asci, which are sac-like anatomies that accommodate haploid structures. A significant number of sac fungi are vital, for example, morels and truffles, mostly used for delicacies (Brandt 1940).

Yeasts are another type of sac fungus which are of commercial importance, especially in baking, fermentation of wine, and brewing, as previously mentioned. These types of fungi can reproduce both asexually and sexually, with the former occurring more frequently. When reproducing sexually, the sexual pores are referred to as ascus, while the spores are called conidia in asexual reproduction (Brandt 1941). Yeasts asexual spores are located externally from their bodies. Yeasts don possess any fruiting bodies, unlike other fungi like mushrooms, which are usually multicellular organisms. The microbes under study belong to class saccharomycetes, and they feed on sugar mostly (especially plant sugars).

Regarding sexual reproduction, development and establishment of hyphae are realized from either the mating strains provided by these single-cell microorganisms. Antheridium and ascogonium are produced by male and female strains, respectively, and during fertilization, the two combines while restricting nuclear fusion in the process of plasmogamy (Brandt 1943).

Yeasts Metabolism

In conjunction with the rest of the fungal phyla, organic compounds are the main energy sources for yeasts, as all Ascomycota's are heterotrophic organisms (Demain 93). Yeasts have a total of two ways to produce ATP from sugars (glucose mainly), fermentation and respiration. Both of the pathways are sparked off by glycolysis, and the chemical reactions end in pyruvate and ATP per glucose molecules production. During the process of fermentation, pyruvate is converted into alcohol. The latter process is characterized by the recycling of NAD+ instead of the usual production of ATP, which therefore provides a production method of ATP that is oxygen-independent (Demain 103). During respiration, the oxidative phosphorylation and the TCA cycle ensures the production of carbon dioxide through oxidation of the pyruvate, which yields an extra ATP, unlike the first metabolic method, only that respiration requires oxygen for oxidation of the pyruvate molecule. Other yeasts with ample oxygen amounts can use respiration and fermentation simultaneously. Once the glucose is depleted, the accumulated ethanol can be used from being recycled to produce ATP. The latter method produces less energy than the direct oxidation method.

Yeasts have also evolved and can break most organic substrates for energy production (Demain 98). They have enzymes that are responsible for breaking sugars, especially maltose, into glucose, a main source of energy as it has been previously explained.

Yeasts Habitat

Yeasts, a taxonomically heterogenic group of fungi, are known to populate different regions in the contemporary world. They are in both terrestrial and aquatic environments. Besides, they have been recently researched to occupy the atmosphere even though their distributions are varied and uneven (Yakop, Farazimah, & Taha 733). Some of the widely known yeasts are habitat-specific, while most of them are ubiquitous generalists that can comfortably exist in different habitat with different climatic conditions. A small number of yeast fungi are from low isolates, and only one strain represents about one-third of the known yeast species. The habitats o the latter is yet to be elucidated. The microorganisms cannot move by themselves, yet they are distributed in different regions of the earth. Their dispersal, therefore, is highly dependent on the vectors carrying them with insects playing the major role (Yakop, Farazimah, & Taha 733). Many yeasts are found in leaves of plants, while others occur saprophytically on rich sugar substances such as date palm, molasses, fruit surfaces, and milk.

Yeasts Environmental Tolerances

To ensure that yeasts are economically viable, they have to be tolerant of harsh environments incorporated in certain reactions in an industrial setting. For instance, via repeated mutations using the chemical ethyl methane sulfonate, a salt-tolerant yeast showed fervent growth even in the presence of sodium chloride of up to 10 percent (Fazli 6). The latter is good news to manufacturers as earlier, vast amounts of yeasts were used in the industrial process since they were destroyed under extremely harsh conditions engineered by the change in acidity and basicity of the mediums involved.

Yeasts have also been known to be tolerant to high temperatures inhibitory substances and hyperosmolarity in the process of fermentation. Yeasts have been researched to withstand the stresses associated with such harsh processes through the development and usage of a self-cloned gene adjustment that highly improves yeast tolerance (Fazli 10). Industries have separated these highly mutated yeast fungi and performed tests on them to ensure they comprehend the process behind the development of these cloned genes. In understanding the process, numerous stress tolerant genes can be produced, which would benefit the fermenting industries significantly.

Fungi Environmental and Societal Roles

As previously mentioned, fungi can be either beneficial or harmful to their surroundings. Fungi are crucial in an ecosystem as they decompose dead organic matter and release nutrients to the surroundings to survive other organisms that they are in a symbiotic relationship (Kendrick 25). In society, food security can be achieved as a result of edible fungi. For example, bread and mushrooms can be used as sources of food by people in a country to avoid starvation. Recreational drinking beverages can also be produced by yeast, which brings about fermentation in alcoholic beverages.

Yeasts are as much applicable in biotechnology, which has helped numerous individuals across the globe, especially the ones suffering from diabetes (Kendrick 10). In diabetic people, genetically modified yeasts have been known to produce insulin, which helps sustain the sugar level of these people. Eye degeneration and the eye papillomavirus vaccines have been incorporated with yeasts, proving the importance that these fungi have on the community (Kendrick 13). Besides, the use of yeasts in laboratories has aided in conducting researches regarding cell development, cancer and aging, which are all vital topics that help understand our health better and how to avoid getting conditions that might be harmful to our lives.

Yeast Genome Sequencing

Genome sequencing refers to the process of comprehending the DNA nucleotides order or bases in a specific genome (Fitzpatrick & Edgar 70). Fungal genome sequencing has been done in each species of kingdom fungi. The completion of budding and fission yeast genome sequence brought about the ideas which helped initiate the sequencing of a majority of fungi from other phyla. From the 1990s, a significant number of fungal genomes have been sequenced, representing the greatest of any eukaryotic kingdom. Genome sequencing involving fungi has been influential in advancing ecological studies, agriculture science, medical Science, and biotechnology (Fitzpatrick & Edgar 81). As a result, research should be intensified in this region to reap the full benefits associated with the genome sequencing of fungi.

Works Cited

Brandt, Mary E., and David W. Warnock. "Taxonomy and Classification of Fungi." Manual of Clinical Microbiology, 2015, pp. 1932–1943., doi:10.1128/9781555817381.ch113.

Demain, Arnold L. "Regulation of Secondary Metabolism." Biotechnology of Filamentous Fungi, 1992, pp. 89–112., doi:10.1016/b978-0-7506-9115-4.50011-5.

Fazli, Mehran Mohammadian. "Highly Cadmium Tolerant Fungi: Their Tolerance and Removal Potential." Journal of Environmental Health Science and Engineering, vol. 13, no. 1, 2015, doi:10.1186/s40201-015-0176-0.

Fitzpatrick, David, and Edgar Mauricio Medina Tovar. "Fungal Genomics." Fungi, 2011, pp. 67–93., doi: 10.1002/9781119976950.ch3.

Kendrick, Bryce. "Fungi: Ecological Importance and Impact on Humans." ELS, 2011, doi: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0000369.pub2.

Yakop, Farazimah, and Hussein Taha. "Isolation of Fungi from Various Habitats and Their Possible Bioremediation." Current Science, vol. 116, no. 5, 2019, p. 733., doi:10.18520/cs/v116/i5/733-740.