Involvement of Irreversible Vacuolar Membrane Fragmentation in the Lethality of Food Emulsifier Diglycerol Monolaurate against Budding Yeast.

Diglycerol monolaurate (DGL) has been manufactured as a novel type of food emulsifier and is being considered for further application as a food preservative. DGL lethality was thus examined against Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a model of a yeast that causes food spoilage. In spite of its molecular structure as a nonionic surfactant, DGL could exhibit lethality at a concentration lower than that which caused disruptive damage to the yeast plasma membrane.