ABSTRACT
The phenomenon of autolysis has experimental and industrial applications. Autolysis begins immediately after cell death. If the goal of autolysis is to achieve release of a particular constituent from the yeast cells then an obvious further restraint is that the initiator not modify the compound of interest. There is a plethora of proteinases in yeast and they play important regulatory roles in living cells. The isolation of enzymes from yeast via autolysis has been largely superseded by mechanical disruption methods. The release of enzymes from autolyzing cells or from the ethyl acetate treated model may be worth further study and could provide additional insight into the disposition of polymers within the cell wall. The main advantages of the autolytic method are that it does not demand sophisticated equipment and, although somewhat longer overall, it is very short on operator contact time. Other industrial applications of autolysis include preparations for food-addition, food extension, and texturizing.
