Yeast edit
This recently was voted for the article improvement drive and many good additions have been made. I hope now that some people can peer review this article to give us an idea of what still needs to be done. I would very much appreciate any comments. Benbread 02:40, 29 December 2006 (UTC)
- Hi Benbread. (Any relation between your username and the subject matter? Never mind). I looked over the article and here are some thoughts from a non-expert in the subject matter.
- Per Wikipedia's Manual of Style (Lead Section), the lead section should act as a concise, easy-to-read summary of the entire article. It should not contain information that is not discussed to a greater extent elsewhere in the article. One reader may read the lead section just to get a quick overview of the subject matter, another may read the entire article.
"The term yeast is commonly used to refer to the species Saccharomyces cerevisiae..." sounds really awkward, and in my opinion shouldn't be in the lead, much less the second sentence of the article. "Is commonly used" also falls under "weasel words" that you should avoid.The organization of the article seems bit awkward to me, as well. Jumping right from the lead paragraph into reproduction makes me feel like something else is missing. Physical description? Kind of hard with single-celled organisms. Habitat? Under what types of conditions do yeast live?Does a single yeast cell live for 50 years? 5 seconds? I'm kind of reaching here, but these are some of the basic questions that I'm left with after reading the article. I'd like to see more of the basics.- The reproduction section needs expanding. The first paragraph is ok, although I don't understand "The bud can develop on different parts of the parent cell depending on the genus of the yeast". Different parts of the cell? Explain, using examples, if possible. The second paragraph mentions high stress conditions but doesn't elaborate on what stresses a yeast cell. It also talks about diploid and haploid yeast cells with no mention of why certain cells would be haploid or dipoid, nor does it mention the process of conjugation. Finally, what happens after the spores are formed? The third paragraph needs expanding as well. Tell me why that is important or interesting. Discuss in a sentence or two what the difference is between budding and binary fission so I don't have to go into each of those articles and figure it out myself.
The growth section, in contrast, needs the language to be simplified somewhat. Write to express, not to impress, one professor once told me, and that concept definitely applies to the first sentence of this section. Why use "obligately aerobic" and "facultatively anaerobic" when you can describe what those terms mean in just a sentence or two more? Also, "In the absence of oxygen, fermentative yeasts produce their energy by converting carbohydrates into carbon dioxide and ethanol (alcohol) or lactic acid" is a misleading oversimplification, similar to claiming that automobiles get the energy to operate by converting hydrocarbons into water vapor and carbon dioxide. You've simply listed the starting and ending products of an extended chemical reaction without discussing any of the energy transfer involved. The second paragraph is just a chemical reaction that I'm not sure is relevant to your article for the same reason, and omits any mention of fermentation into lactate. I'm not sure how the third and fourth paragraphs fit into a section entitled "growth".The "uses" section seems somewhat choppy and disorganized. The "alcoholic beverages" section contains just one sentence, yet there are separate sections on beer and wine. Don't Distilled beverages use yeasts in the first parts of the process as well?- T
he external links section needs cleanup, per WP:EL. The talk page mentions a request for a history of the use and culture of yeast, which I think would be a very important addition to the article.
- I hope this is helpful and not overly critical. Obviously, a considerable amount of time and energy has been invested in this article so far and it's one that I'd like to see improved to a featured article some day. Neil916 (Talk) 08:49, 3 January 2007 (UTC)
- Are there viruses or phages that infect yeast, or other predators/enemies of yeast in the wild?
The Etymology section is only one sentence; I suggest merging with HistoryWhat about Jokes about yeasts? :-)
David.Throop 18:22, 9 January 2007 (UTC)