| Sugar cane juice containing 12% (w.w -1) of total reducing sugars and 0.0 to 5.0 mmol of nickel L-1, with pH ranging from 3.5 to 6.5, was inoculated with Fleischmanns yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) (10% w.w -1). Six hours after fermentation, the yeasts cellular viability and trehalose content were evaluated. The resulting must was centrifuged and the raw yeast was analyzed by atomic absorption spectroscopy to evaluate the intracellular levels of calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, nickel, phosphorus, potassium, sulfur and zinc. The intracellular levels of iron, magnesium and calcium were affected and the yeasts susceptibility to nickel was enhanced by the decrease in pH. The yeasts growth was not affected by nickel at high pH, but the toxic... |
