Industrial production of dried yeast: plasma membrane as a survival indicator of air drying process

Abstract

International audiencePreservation of microorganisms by desiccationis a major industrial interest.However, study of cell survival mechanismsthat occur during desiccation is complex. In this work, the impact of the magnitude and the kinetics of dehydration on yeastsurvival wereevaluatedin either hyperosmotic liquid medium or a gaseous environment. Asame lethal magnitude of dehydration and a same lethal kinetic effect were found. As previously shown for osmotic stress, this work demonstrate that yeast survival after drying was also related to plasma membrane disorganization, suggesting a similar passive rearrangement of the membrane components.Hyperosmotic treatment in liquid medium represents an opportune environment to optimize industrial drying processes