Heterologous protein expression levels in Saccharomyces cerevisiae fermentations are highly dependent on the susceptibility to endogenous yeast proteases. Small peptides, such as glucagon and glucagon-like-peptides (GLP-1 and GLP-2), featuring an open structure are particularly accessible for proteolytic degradation during fermentation. Therefore, homogeneous products cannot be obtained. The most sensitive residues are found at basic amino acid residues in the peptide sequence. These heterologous peptides are degraded mainly by the YPS1-encoded aspartic protease, yapsin1, when produced in the yeast. In this article, distinct degradation products were analyzed by HPLC and mass spectrometry, and high yield of the heterologous peptide production has been achieved by the disruption of the YPS1 gene (previously called YAP3). By this technique, high yield continuous fermentation of glucagon in S. cerevisiae is now possible. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.