Yeast Cell Respiration Lab

H2O2 Concentration on the Enzyme Reaction of

Liver and H2O2
Tae Hong Kim

Biology SL Core 3
Cell respiration

Cell respiration is the process in which the chemically energy

of the food is released and conserved into an ATP molecule as a net

gain. Macronutrients, in the form of carbohydrates, fats/lipids, and

amino acids/proteins are used as fuels in cellular respiration, and the

most common form of energy used is glucose (carbohydrate). Now in

the case of animals, Living things tend to catabolize organic

molecules within their cells and use the energy released to

manufacture ATP by ADP. Cellular respiration is considered to be a

very complex and complicated form of process with many steps and

levels which takes place inside the cell, (mitochondria). Mitochondria

play an important role for converting digested nutrients into the

energy-yielding molecule ATP to fuel the cells’ energetic activities.

This function, known as aerobic respiration, this can be the reason

why mitochondria are referred to as the “powerhouse” of the cell.

There are two types of respiration that occur in cells to produce

energy

Yeast Respiration
 Yeast cell respiration is little different from that of the original

cell respiration. It acts as an anaerobic respiration in which in

human’s case, we tend to produce them in the form of lactic acid. In

yeast cell though, the process of fermentation results in the form of

net gains of 2 ATPs, and an additional waste called ethyl alcohol.

Yeast cells tends to respond better and react chemically

through sugar molecules or just things with sugar in them in general,

such as grapes, sucrose table sugar, glucose, and more. This is

because Yeast is a fungus that heavily depends on the supply of

energy for its living and growth. Sugar supplies this energy Yeast cells

have the tendency to respond better to certain types of sugars

depending on their type, amount, and content.

Another thing to keep in mind is that an excessive amount of

sugar (any type) will inhibit the chemical reaction. This is because the

osmotic concentration of sugar molecule during the chemical reaction

becomes so great that the yeast is unable to get enough water for

growth, which as a result, inhibits the reaction.

Question
In this portfolio, I am going to find out how much is the maximum

amount of sugar that the yeast can handle without reaching a plateau

or slowing down

Hypothesis

The more food (sugar) added to the substance (yeast) it is more likely

that the reaction will accelerate due to yeast’s factor of obtaining

energy source from food (sugar). The more, the faster the chemical

reaction will take place.

Independent Variables

– Amount of sugar added in the yeast solution.

Dependant Variables

– CO2 concentration (which is where the yeast reaction takes place).

Controlled Variables

– Apparatus

a) Beaker

b) Distilled water

c) Graduated cylinder
 d) H2o2

e) Jar

f) Tweezers

g) Eyedropper

h) Hole puncher and paper

i) Electronic scale

j) Co2 censor

k) Logger pro

l) Yeast  Saccharomyces cerevisiae

m) Sucrose

n) Short glass tube

– Yeast Amount

a) The amount of the Yeast will be controlled at all times, in order

to perfect this experiment as much as possible

– Timing

a) The timing will always be kept at a constant rate, meaning I am

not going to change the timing differences between each test

that I run.

– Amount of the solution

 a) Again, this will also be controlled at all times, this means that I

am going to use the exact yeast solution every time when I am

trying to mix it with sucrose (sugar)

Problem

-How the amount of sugar will affect the rate of yeast cell respiration

Controlled Labs

Apparatus

1. Heat both Yeast and water solution at a certain degree

2. Use the eyedropper to take exactly 30ml of solution.

3. Pour the 30ml of solution into the jar

4. Take out the Logging device and Co2 sensor

5. Install logger pro software

6. Connect logging device and co2 sensor into the computer  with

the help of logger pro software

7. Before you start recording, make sure to switch the maximum

time limit of the recorder to be 180 seconds (3 minutes)

8. Start recording the chemical reaction

9. Measure 2g of sucrose sugar with electronic scale and paper

10. Add 2g of sugar into the jar with the mixed solution

11. Make sure to close the jar completely as fast as possible (in order

to prevent the CO2 from escaping outside the jar which can cause

a dramatic uncertainly in the experiment)

12. Start using computer to log all the visible data

13. 180 seconds later the recorder will automatically end (due to

previous procedure in which I have set the time limit to be 3

minutes)

14. Get the next set of another data, and record again.
15. Repeat this step, but make sure the amount of sugar is different 

2g the first time, 4g the second, 6g third, 8g fourth, and 10g last.

Conclusion

Diagram

Co2
Jar
Yeast
sensor
Solution

Limitations and uncertainties

– There were several uncertainties that I had faced during this experiment.

I have made the uncertainties of not being able to close the jar several
 times at perfect, fast paste timing, this lead to some differentiation in the

expected data. I also made the uncertainties with the amount of sugar

since the apparatus used cannot be perfect in terms of getting the exact

amount of sugar, there can be a ±0.1g difference whether or not the

scale says it’s perfect.

– There could have been an error with the amount of liver which could’ve

possibly caused this. Since I have used the paper dot, the sizes of the

liver would all been different to some extent, causing an uncertainty

with the amount of liver I used. What I noticed later on was that I could

have made this better just by simply using the electronic scale that was

used to measure the sucrose content to get close to perfection in terms of

the amount of liver I used.

Graph
Table
 Table 　 　 　 　

showing the

maximum

CO2

concentration

recorded in

180 seconds

with various

amounts of

sugar

molecules

added to the

yeast solution

from 2g to

10g ±0.1g

Amount of Maximum CO2 concentration recorded within 180seconds / ±

sucrose molecule 10ppm

(sugar) added to Test 1 Test 2 Test 3 AVG STDV

the yeast

solution insde

the jar /±0.1g

2g 5779 5434 4802 5338 495.48

4g 8944 6621 8909 8158 1331.20

6g 8904 6798 9636 8446 1473.39

8g 7609 7893 5860 7121 1100.97

10g 6209 8734 8113 7685 1315.71

Conclusion

– The graph shows a positive increase although the results did not show

that much of a difference.

– When you see the percent rise in temperature of the reaction, it is

noticeable that the H2O2 solution did not affect the reaction.
– The more H2O2 ‘is needed to fit into the active site of the Pac man

figure enzymes in the liver, the reaction must’ve increased severely.

– This means that the more H2O2 solution there is there will be more

positive effect in the change of temperature during the chemical

reaction.