Pb2+ accumulation processes between live and dead cells of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Aureobasidium pullulans are different. In the case of S. cerevisiae, the Pb2+ accumulation capacity of the live cells was higher than that of the dead cells but they showed reversed initial Pb2+ accumulation rates. On the contrary, A. pullulans used a different process due to the existence of extracellular polymeric substances, which allowed both the capacity and the initial rate of Pb2+ accumulation in the live cells to be higher than those in the dead cells.