Patent ID: 7476529

Claim:
A method for accelerating nutrient uptake in bacteria or yeast without a substantially commensurate increase of biomass, comprising contacting said bacteria or yeast with a mixture of an aerobic yeast fermentation supernatant and a surface-active agent, whereby the nutrient uptake in said bacteria or yeast is increased without a substantially commensurate increase of biomass, wherein the mixture of the aerobic yeast fermentation supernatant and the surface-active agent is obtained by: fermenting under aerobic conditions a plurality of yeast cells in the presence of a nutrient source, heating the plurality of yeast cells after the fermenting step, wherein said heating step comprises increasing the temperature of said plurality of yeast cells to between about 40° to about 60° C. for about 2 to about 24 hours, followed by cooling to less than 25° C., disrupting the cellular structure of some of the plurality of yeast cells to obtain a fermentation product, centrifuging the fermentation product to obtain the aerobic fermentation supernatant containing peptides, and combining the aerobic fermentation supernatant with the surface-active agent.