Extraction of lipids from yeast

Several methods for the extraction of lipids from intact yeast cells have been compared. Extraction of intact cells with methanol followed by methanol: benzene (1:1, v/v) and benzene resulted in the recovery of equal or greater amounts of polar and nonpolar lipids than obtained by other methods. A preparative method involving preincubation of cells with aqueous KOH followed by the treatment of the cellular residue as described above yielded slightly more steryl esters than was extracted from broken cell preparations.