How Do You Grow Saccharomyces Cerevisiae Yeast Cells?
Saccharomyces cerevisiae, also known as baker’s yeast, is often used as a model organism in biological research because many genes in the yeast genome are similar to human genes. Growing yeast for a school project is easy and requires only a few supplies. Baker’s yeast found in the grocery store works well for most projects. Prepare the yeast media by mixing 10 ml corn syrup in 1 liter still (non-carbonated) mineral water. This media provides a carbon source (the corn syrup) as well as minerals for the yeast to use. Pour the media into the bottles, test tubes or flasks. Inoculate the cultures by wetting a cotton swab in the media, dipping it into the yeast packet, and then swirling it in the media again. Place a wad of cotton at the top of each tube to prevent contamination. Incubate the cultures in a warm place, up to 35 C. After 24 hours the cultures should be turbid, meaning cloudy. This indicates growth of the yeast cultures.
