Metabolic Evaluation of Heat-Treated Yeast by Dielectrophoretic Velocimetry

—Influence of Treatment Time at Low Temperature—

Abstract

Constant monitoring and detailed examination of microbial metabolism have been required for advanced quality control in bioindustry. Although microbial evaluation using dielectrophoresis (DEP) should be an attractive scheme, the relationship with metabolism has not been understood well. In this paper, the membrane states and metabolic change of injured Saccharomyces cerevisiae (S. cerevisiae) with heat treatment were investigated using DEP velocimetry in a micro cell. As a result, the treatment time at low temperature and afterheat stress sensitively influenced DEP velocity of S. cerevisiae. The fluorescent observation of stained S. cerevisiae indicated DEP velocity has a correlation with the transmembrane state and growth activity. These results suggest that DEP velocimetry would be available for rapid and simple metabolic evaluation.