the use of the yeast saccharomyces cerevisiae has increased greatly over the past few years for the production of pharmaceuticals, specialty chemicals, and other commodities. one reason for this is the many advantages it offers for synthesis and secretion of recombinant dna products. however, the growth characteristics of this yeast are quite complex and only recently has detailed analysis been available to provide additional insight into such phenomena as biphasic growth and catabolic repression. this paper summarizes and organizes current literature and also details the experimental behavior of on-line and off-line variables of s cerevisiae in glucose-limited-batch, fedbatch, and hollow-fiber bioreactors. the observed behavior is interpreted using knowledge of yeast catabolism biochemistry and physiology. special focus is placed on the interpretation of off-gas behavior with respect to tca enzyme activity and the saturation level of oxygen utilization capacity (author abstract) 13 refs