Main description:

This book updates the knowledge that we have accumulated over the last couple of decades on yeast research. The yeasts are eukaryotic unicellular microfungi that are widely distributed in the natural environment, and can also be found in more specialized or extreme environments, such as low temperatures, low oxygen availabilities and water potential. Approximately 1500 species of yeasts belonging to over 100 genera have been described so far. Although the vast majority of yeasts are beneficial to human life, only a few are opportunistic human pathogens. Yeasts play an important role in the food chain, and in the carbon, nitrogen and sulphur cycles. In addition, yeasts (e.g. Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Hansenula polymorpha, Pichia pastoris) are now being used to express foreign genes for producing human proteins of pharmaceutical interest. A landmark in biotechnology was reached in 1996 with the completion of the sequencing of the entire genome of S. cerevisiae and the genome sequencing of three more yeasts (Schizosaccharomyces pombe, Candida albicans and Cryptococcus neofromans) have recently been completed.
Saccharomyces cerevisiae has now become a central player in the development of an entirely new approach to biological research - systems biology. The products of modern yeast biotechnology impinges on many commercially important sectors including foods, beverages, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, industrial enzymes, agriculture and environmental bioremediation. This book is aimed at bringing together and updating the latest information on the diversity of yeasts under natural and extreme environments, their ecology and adaptations, taxonomy and systematics, physiology and biochemistry, as well as their molecular features and biotechnological applications.

Contents:

1 Antarctic yeasts: biodiversity and potential applications, S. Shivaji and G. S. Prasad; 2 Basidiomycetous yeasts: Current status, B.N. Johri and D.K. Choudhury; 3 Hansenula polymorpha (Pichia angusta) - Biology and applications, Gotthard Kunze, Hyun Ah Kang and Gerd Gellissen; 4 Debaryomyces hansenii: an osmotolerant and halo-tolerant yeast, Monika Aggarwal and Alok K Mondal; 5 Candida famata (Debaryomyces hansenii), Andriy A. Sibirny and Andriy Y. Voronovsky; 6 Pichia guilliermondii, Andriy A. Sibirny and Yuriy R. Boretsky; 7 Assimilation of unusual carbon compounds, Wouter J. Middelhoven; 8 Ecology and biodiversity of yeasts with potential value in biotechnology, T. Deak; 9 Yeast diversity in fermented foods and beverages, Jyoti Prakash Tamang and Graham H. Fleet; 10 Utilization of yeasts in biological control programs, Pimenta, R.S., Morais, P.B., Rosa, C.A. and Correa Jr., A.; 11 Opportunistic pathogenic yeasts, Uma Banerjee; 12 Interaction between yeasts and zinc, Raffaele De Nicola and Graeme Walker; 13 Glutathione production in yeast, Anand K Bachhawat, Dwaipayan Ganguli, Jaspreet Kaur, Neha Kasturia, Anil Thakur, Hardeep Kaur, Akhilesh Kumar and Amit Yadav; 14 Fermentative and aromatic ability of Kloeckera and Hanseniaspora yeasts, Dulce M. Diaz-Montano and J. de Jesus Ramirez Cordova; 15 Assimilatory nitrate reduction in Hansenula polymorpha, Beatrice Rossi and Enrico Berardi; Part II. Genetic and Molecular Insights:16 Yeast genetics and biotechnological applications, Saroj Mishra and Richa Singh; 17 A wide-range integrative expression vector (comedtm) system for yeasts, Gerhard Steinborn, Gotthard Kunze and Gerd Gellissen; 18 Advances in gene expression in non-conventional yeasts, Jacobus Albertyn, Michel Labuschagne and Sanet Nel; 19 A comparative study of RNA polymerase II transcription machinery in yeasts, Nimisha Sharma and Surbhi Mehta; 20 Non-genetic engineering approaches to isolating and generating novel yeasts for industrial applications, Paul J. Chambers, Jenny R. Bellon, Simon A. Schmidt, C. Varela and Isak S. Pretorius; 21 Yeast proteome analysis, Andrea Matros and Hans-Peter Mock; 22 Yeast genomics for bread, beer, biology, bucks and breath, Kishore R. Sakharkar and Meena K. Sakharkar; Part III. Biotechnological Applications: 23 Ethanol production from traditional and emerging raw materials, Andreas Rudolf, Kaisa Karhumaa and Barbel Hahn-Hagerdal; 24 Potentiality of yeasts in the direct conversion of starchy materials to ethanol and its relevance in the new millennium, L.V.A.Reddy, O.V.S.Reddy and S.C. Basappa; 25 Thermotolerant yeasts for bioethanol production using ignocellulosic substrates, L.Venkateswar Rao and Chand Pasha; 26 Applications of the non-conventional yeast Yarrowia lipolytica, France Thevenieau, Jean-Marc Nicaud and Claude Gaillardin; 27 Arxula adeninivorans (Blastobotrys adeninivorans) - a dimorphic yeast of great biotechnological potential, Erik Boer, Gerhard Steinborn, Kristina Tag, Martina Korner, Gerd Gellissen and G. Kunze; 28 Biotechnological applications of dimorphic yeasts, N. Doiphode, C. Joshi, V. Ghormade and M.V. Deshpande; 29 Extracellular polysaccharides produced by yeasts and yeast-like fungi, Inge N.A. Van Bogaert, Sofie L. De Maeseneire and Erick J. Vandamme; 30 Industrially important carbohydrate degrading enzymes from yeasts: pectinase and chitinase, ss-1, 3-glucanase, Sathyanarayana N. Gummadi, D. Sunil Kumar, Swati S. Dash and Santosh Kumar Sahu; 31 Yeast acid phosphatases and phytases: production, characterization and commercial prospects, Kaur, P. and T. Satyanarayana; 32 Nitrile-metabolizing yeasts, Tek Chand Bhalla, Monica Sharma and Nitya Nand Sharma