Kinetics of spheroplasts formation from selected yeast strains

The formation of spheroplasts from several Kluyveromyces and Saccharomyces strains was studied with the Coulter counter technique. When yeasts were incubated with zymolyase, the number of intact cells decreased according to first-order kinetics after an initial lag. In the concentration ranges studied, the rates were proportional to the cell-lytic enzyme concentrations. The rate (-0.099 min-1) of the most susceptible strain, K. fragilis, was 80-fold higher than that of S. cerevisiae CBS 5495. Compared to the cell sizing technique, the spectrophotometric determination leads to the underestimation of the reaction course.