Yeast cells, as microorganisms rich in bioactive substances such as proteins, polysaccharides, and enzymes, have their valuable intracellular components encased in a tough cell wall. Yeast cell wall disruption, also known as cell fragmentation, is a key technology that uses physical, chemical, or biological methods to break down the yeast cell wall structure and release intracellular active ingredients. It is widely used in food, medicine, biotechnology, and other fields, becoming an important support for promoting the upgrading of related industries.
The yeast cell wall is mainly composed of dextran, mannan, and chitin, with a dense and somewhat tough structure, which poses a significant challenge to the extraction of intracellular components. A high-quality cell wall disruption technology must balance disruption efficiency and product activity, achieving effective cell wall disruption while avoiding denaturation of intracellular active substances due to high temperatures and strong chemical reactions. Therefore, technology selection and process optimization are particularly important.
Currently, yeast cell wall disruption technologies are mainly divided into three categories. Physical disruption methods are the most widely used in industrial production, including ball milling, high-pressure homogenization, and ultrasonic disruption. Ball milling generates shear force through high-speed collisions of grinding media, efficiently breaking down cell walls and suitable for large-scale production. High-pressure homogenization utilizes high-pressure impact to induce cavitation, disrupting cell wall structure and resulting in good uniformity of cell disruption. Ultrasonic disruption uses shock waves generated by sound wave cavitation to break down cell walls; it is simple to operate and suitable for small-scale laboratory applications, but requires careful temperature control to prevent product denaturation.
Chemical disruption uses acid/alkali solutions or surfactants to disrupt the chemical structure of the cell wall, releasing intracellular components. It is simple to operate and low-cost, but chemical residues may remain, affecting product purity, and is mostly used in scenarios where purity requirements are not high. Biological disruption primarily employs enzymatic hydrolysis, utilizing complex enzyme preparations such as dextranase and mannanase to specifically decompose cell wall components. It is characterized by gentleness, high efficiency, and good preservation of product activity, making it a research hotspot in recent years. However, the high cost of enzyme preparations limits its large-scale adoption.
With the continuous development of biotechnology, yeast cell disruption technology is upgrading towards high efficiency, gentleness, greenness, and low cost. The synergistic application of multiple technologies is becoming a trend. For example, combining enzymatic hydrolysis with physical disruption can reduce enzyme dosage while improving disruption efficiency. Intelligent process control can adjust disruption parameters in real time to maximize product activity.
Breakthroughs in yeast cell wall disruption technology have greatly promoted the development of related industries. In the food industry, it facilitates the extraction of yeast proteins and polysaccharides for the production of functional foods and food additives. In the pharmaceutical field, it provides technical support for the research and development of yeast-derived drugs. In the biotechnology field, it lays the foundation for research in genetic engineering and cell engineering. In the future, with continuous technological innovation, yeast cell wall disruption technology will further expand its application scenarios, fully explore the resource value of yeast, and inject new impetus into the high-quality development of the industry.
