Use in Research
Because it is readily available and easy to culture, baker's yeast has long been used in chemical, biological, and genetic research. In 1996, after 6 years of work, S. cerevisiae became the first eukaryote to have its entire genome sequenced. It has over 12 million base pairs and around 6000 genes. Since then it has remained on the forefront of genetic research. For example, most of our knowledge of the cell division cycle was worked out from experiments with yeast.
Baker's yeast contains enzymes which can reduce a carbonyl group into a hydroxyl group in fairly high yield, thus making it a useful bio-reagent in chemical syntheses. It is known to reduce organometallic carbonyl compounds in very high yield.
Baker's yeast can also be used to produce ethanol via fermentation for use in chemical synthesis, although doing so in some places requires permits.
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