Patent ID: 8679786

Claim:
A method of preparing a copper-enriched yeast biomass, comprising: (i) culturing Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast cells of the isolated strain SA 221 BM deposited with the DSMZ under accession number DSM 21530 or of the isolated strain SA 586 BM deposited with the DSMZ under accession number DSM 21531 in a liquid nutrient medium comprising a carbon source, a nitrogen source, at least one amino acid and a copper salt, so as to obtain a copper-enriched yeast biomass in the form of a copper-glutathione (Cu-GSH) complex, wherein the intracellular content of the Cu-GSH complex is higher than 1% dry weight; and (ii) separating from the liquid nutrient medium the copper-enriched yeast biomass obtained in step (i).