The pentose phosphate pathway in the yeasts Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Kloeckera apiculata, an exercise in comparative metabolism for food and wine science students

Comparative cellular metabolism can be a difficult area of biochemistry to teach in the undergraduate laboratory class. Student practicals involving animal tissues generally require approval from animal ethic committees, and the relevance for students whose primary interest in biochemistry is in the area of food and wine sciences, is often questioned. In this report, we present an undergraduate practical exercise in which glucose catabolism via the pentose phosphate pathway is compared in two types of yeast with direct relevance to the wine and food industries, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Kloeckera apiculata. The exercise is carried out as a demonstration to second year undergraduate students, studying metabolic biochemistry. It is of some value in that it illustrates comparative cellular metabolism in wine yeasts and introduces the students to the safe use of radioisotopes.