Extraction of Trehalose from Baker’s Yeast

Trehalose is a nonreducing disaccharide of glucose commonly found at high concentration in baker’s yeast, insects, and many other organisms1.To obtain trehalose from baker’s yeast, we extracted it with pure water and ethanol-water solutions under various treatment conditions. The extraction ratio of trehalose from baker’s yeast was affected by the ethanol concentration, extraction temperature, and the pretreatment conditions of yeast. Because trehalase, which is a hydrolytic enzyme of trehalose2. hydrolyzed the extracted trehalose, the suppression of enzyme activity was neccesary to obtain a good extraction ratio. One method for this was to use an ethanol-water solution of 45 to 50 wti$ EtOH. Another more effective method was to dry or heat the yeast before extraction3.