Which microorganism is used to make bread rise and ferment alcoholic drinks?

Saccharomyces cerevisiae is the microorganism used to make bread rise and ferment alcoholic drinks.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a single-celled fungus commonly called baker’s yeast or brewer’s yeast. When oxygen is limited and sugar is available, it carries out alcoholic fermentation, producing ethanol and carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide inflates dough, while ethanol and other fermentation products contribute to beer, wine, and related beverages.

Humans have used this yeast for thousands of years, although its biological role was not understood until the development of modern microbiology. Louis Pasteur’s nineteenth-century studies helped establish that fermentation is connected with living microorganisms. S. cerevisiae later became one of the most important laboratory eukaryotes because it is easy to grow and genetically manipulate.

It is a fungus, not a bacterium, even though it is microscopic. Candida albicans is another yeast but is mainly known as an opportunistic human pathogen. Different strains of S. cerevisiae are selected for particular baking, brewing, winemaking, or research properties.