Which one of the following statements is correct about Saccharomyces cerevisiae?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Used for the production of ethanol
Saccharomyces cerevisiae is brewer’s or baker’s yeast. It ferments sugars to ethanol and carbon dioxide, so it is used to make bread, beer, wine and industrial alcohol.
Option (1) Used for the production of ethanol — Correct. Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the yeast, ferments sugars to alcohol. It is used for the commercial production of ethanol, and also in bread-making and brewing.
Option (2) Used as a clot buster — Incorrect. The clot buster is streptokinase, made by the bacterium Streptococcus.
Option (3) Used as an immunosuppressive agent — Incorrect. The immunosuppressive agent is cyclosporin A, made by the fungus Trichoderma polysporum.
Option (4) Used as blood cholesterol lowering agent — Incorrect. Cholesterol-lowering statins come from the yeast Monascus purpureus.
NCERT Extract:
Chemicals, Enzymes and Other Bioactive Molecules – “… Microbes are also used for commercial and industrial production of certain chemicals like organic acids, alcohols and enzymes. Examples of acid producers are Aspergillus niger (a fungus) of citric acid, Acetobacter aceti (a bacterium) of acetic acid; Clostridium butylicum (a bacterium) of butyric acid and Lactobacillus (a bacterium) of lactic acid. Yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) is used for commercial production of ethanol.”