Booze Buzz: Insect Guts Serve as Love Nests for Brewer's Yeast

The yeast behind wine, beer and bread has sex in wasp intestines, researchers say. Bread, wine and beer depend on a single species of of yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae — bread gets its spongy texture from bubbles of carbon dioxide released by this yeast, while wine and beer depend on this yeast for their intoxicating qualities. Despite the importance of S. cerevisiae, much remains unknown about how it behaves in the wild, such as how and where it breeds.