Pasteur effect

The Pasteur effect is an inhibiting effect of oxygen on the fermentation process.

Discovery

The effect was discovered in 1857 by Louis Pasteur, who showed that aerating yeasted broth causes yeast cell growth to increase, while conversely, fermentation rate decreases.

Explanation

The effect can be easily explained, as the yeast being facultative anaerobes can produce energy using two different metabolic pathways. While the oxygen concentration is low, the product of glycolysis, (pyruvate), is turned into ethanol and carbon dioxide, and the energy production efficiency is low (2 moles of ATP per mole of glucose). If the oxygen concentration grows, pyruvate is converted to acetyl CoA that can be used in the Krebs Cycle, which increases the efficiency to 38 moles of ATP per 1 moles of glucose.

Under anaerobic conditions, the rate of glucose metabolism is faster, but the amount of ATP produced (as already mentioned) is smaller. When exposed to aerobic conditions, the rate of glycolysis slows, because the increase in ATP production acts as an allosteric inhibitor for the pathway.

So, from the standpoint of ATP production, it is advantageous for yeast to undergo the Krebs Cycle in the presence of oxygen, as more ATP is produced with less glucose. The rapid production of ethanol (and rapid depletion of sugar), on the other hand, probably confers an advantage in the wild.

Practical implications

All the processes used in alcohol production are kept in anaerobic conditions, while breeding yeast for biomass is done in aerobic conditions, the broth being aerated.

Bibliography

* Krebs, Hans. « The Pasteur effect and the relations between respiration and fermentation. » "Essays in Biochemistry", 1972, 8, 1-34

ee also

* Ethanol fermentation
* Fermentation (biochemistry)
* Allosteric regulation
* Allosteric inhibition