Industrial antifoam agents impair ethanol fermentation and induce stress responses in yeast cells

In this study, we investigated the impact of industrial antifoam agents on the physiology and transcriptome of the industrial ethanol Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain CAT-1. We showed that under industrial molasses fermentations similar to the ones used for ethanol production in Brazil, antifoam agents had detrimental effects on productivity, viability and lead to increased stress responses in yeast. Overall design: Exposure of yeast cells to antifoam agents during sugar cane molasses fermentations employed in Brazil.