Amperometric Biosensor for Monitoring Respiration Activity of Saccharomyces cerevisiae in the Presence of Cobalt and Zinc

Željka Filipović-Kovačević¹*, Miroslav Mikšaj¹, Nikola Berčuk² and Marijana Jukić<sup>1

1</sup> Faculty of Food Technology and Biotechnology, University of Zagreb, Pierottijeva 6, HR-10000 Zagreb Croatia
²Podravka d.d., Koprivnica, Croatia

Article history:
Received November 6, 2001
Accepted April 10, 2002

Key words:
biosensor, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, cobalt, zinc

Summary:
For efficient control of heavy metal concentrations electrochemical methods, such as polarography and related techniques, are applied. Their advantages are simplicity, short analysis time and small quantities of samples needed. The presence of some heavy metals, such as zinc and cobalt, accelerates the growth of yeast. For the measurements of concentration changes, amperometric biosensor containing yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae was used. The influence of zinc and cobalt on respiratory activity of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae was estimated by measuring oxygen in the solution that was earlier enriched with cobalt or zinc. Measurements were performed using modified Clark’s oxygen electrode and the investigated concentrations of cobalt and zinc were up to 100 mg/L. 

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