Yeast

You guys all know what yeast is, right? You know, the stuff your mom bakes bread with. And plus, it's mentioned in the Bible. But have ever wondered what yeast really is?

Well, to start with, yeast is a type of unicellular fungi. This means that it only consists of one cell and is part of the kingdom Fungi. Yeast doesn't require sunlight to grow, but instead it needs organic compounds (carbon), which it can get from sugars. That's why, when baking, your mom mixes yeast and sugar to start the yeast's growth.

There are two main types of yeast:

• Saccharomycotina (true yeast)
• Taphrinomycotina Schizosaccharomycetes ("fission" yeast)

( Don't worry, I killed the pronunciation, too)
First lets talk about Saccharomycotina (I'll call it Sacc for short). One of the main characteristics that makes Sacc different from Taphrinomycotina Schizosaccharomycetes (T. S. for short) is that it reproduces by asci, which release spores. This requires "male" and "female" spores, so to speak.

While Sacc uses asci and spores to reproduce, T.S. uses fission. This is the splitting of a cell to make two cells.

So now you know a little more about yeast, and three more words that no one can pronounce.


[References: Wikipedia, Answers.com, yeasgenome.org ]