INTRODUCTION

Yeast is a type of fungi that can make enough adenosine triphosphate (ATP) by
its contained enzymes that acts upon in different substrates such as sugar. It is a
facultative anaerobe; it either requires oxygen for aerobic respiration or can adjust without
the presence of oxygen (Carrol, et al., 1989).

Cellular respiration is one of the key ways a cell gains useful energy to fuel cellular
reformations. The energy released in respiration is used to synthesize ATP to store this
energy. The energy stored in ATP can then be use to drive processes requiring energy,
including biosynthesis, locomotion or transportation of molecules across cell membranes.
The nutrients that are commonly used by many organisms in respiration include sugar,
amino acids, and fatty acids (Haggstrom, 2008).

On the other hand, enzymes are catalysts that speed up reactions; they are made
from protein and are specific as to which substrate they work on. For example a zymase-
complex enzyme will only bind with a glucose molecule to produce the ferments carbon
dioxide and alcohol. Thus, enzymes must be present for organisms to respire the specific
substrate (Campbell, Reece and Mitchell, 2011).

Moreover, these enzymes are organic catalyst which is mostly made up of vitamins
and other metallic ions. It has been pointed out that the presence of coenzymes and
cofactors in optimal amounts enhances the growth of yeast. It can influence the capacity
of an organism by creating other binding sites. It assists enzymes in the catalysis of
reaction. Thus, speeds up the cellular respiration of yeast (Zetic, et al., 2004).

Due to these, the researcher decided to conduct a study analyzing the effect of the
nature of a substrate to the rate of respiration of yeast. Specifically, the researcher
employed five set-ups to examine the study’s purpose. The study aims to answer the
following problems: (1) Does the nature of the substrate affect the rate of respiration of
yeast; (2) What is the volume of carbon dioxide production; (3) What is the partial rate of
carbon dioxide production; (4) and what is the average rate of respiration of the yeast. It
was hypothesized that if the nature of the substrates affects the rate of cellular respiration
of an organism then the simpler the substrate, the faster the rate of cellular respiration in
yeast. The study was conducted at the Institute of Biological Sciences Laboratory,
University of the Philippines Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines on October 04, 2018.
 MATERIALS AND METHODS

In order to test the effect of different substrates to the rate of respiration of yeast,
five Smith fermentation tubes were prepared and labeled. Each test tube was filled with
15 mL distilled water and 15 mL of 10% yeast suspension. Consequently, 15 mL of four
different substrate solutions at 10% concentration were added to its respective tubes:
albumin, butter, glucose, and sucrose. The last tube was filled with distilled water with the
same amount of the aforementioned substrate solutions. This tube will serve as the
negative control of the experiment. After that, these tubes were shaken gently. It was
assured that there was no formation of bubbles in these tubes through covering its opening
and tilting it. Lastly, these tubes were plugged with cotton balls and were tied together at
their vertical arm to keep them upright.

At that point, the produced carbon dioxide (CO2) at the vertical arm of the tube was
observed. The height of the area occupied by CO2 was measured every five minutes for
30 minutes. The volume of gas evolved was used to calculate the rate of cellular
respiration of yeast. This was measured using the formula of cylinder, 𝑉 = πr²h; wherein
π = 3.1416, r = radius of the vertical arm, and h = height of the area occupied by CO2.
From here, the partial rate of CO2 production was computed using this formula:

Vi = volume of CO2 at a given time

Vi – 1 = volume of CO2 immediately

Vi − Vi-1
rp = t i − t i-1 ti = time when Vi was measured

ti – 1 = time immediately before ti

Also, the average rate of respiration was computed and it was acquired using the
formula:

𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑓 CO2 produced

𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 =
𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒

The gathered data were then tabulated and was illustrated into a graph to show
the relationship of the nature of the substrate to the rate of respiration of yeast.