Patent ID: 8323949

Claim:
A method for accelerating nutrient uptake in bacteria without a substantially commensurate increase of biomass, comprising contacting said bacteria with a mixture of an aerobic yeast fermentation supernatant and a surface-active agent, whereby the nutrient uptake in said bacteria 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 to a temperature of between about 40° to about 60° C. after the fermenting step 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; wherein the surface-active agent is a non-ionic or an anionic surfactant; and wherein the yeast is selected from the group consisting of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Kluyveromyces marxianus, Kluyveromyces lactis, Candida utilis, Zygosaccharomyces, Pichia , and Hansanula.