RESUMO
Malic acid consumption by Saccharomyces cerevisiae was studied in a synthetic medium. The extent of malic acid degradation is affected by its initial concentration, the extent and the rate of deacidification increased with initial malate concentration up to 10 milligrams. For malic acid consumption, an optimal pH range of 3-3.5 was found, confirming that non-dissociated organic acids enter S. cerevisiae cells by simple diffusion. A full factorial design has been employed to describe a statistical model of the effect of sugar and malic acid on the quantity of malate degraded (milligrams) by a given amount of biomass (milligrams). The results indicated that the initial malic acid concentration is very important for the ratio of malate consumption to quantity of biomass. The yeast was found to be most efficient at higher levels of malate.