Description of a baby machine for Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

A method for the continuous withdrawal of newly formed daughter cells from a growing population of Saccharomyces cerevisiae is described. An exponential-phase culture of cells was immobilized onto a surface and then flushed continuously with culture medium. Upon division of a cell in the immobilized population, the mother cell remained attached to the surface and the daughter cell was released. The method can be applied to research on the cell cycle, the segregation of components between cells, and cellular aging.