Synchronized populations of Saccharomyces cerevisiae CBS 426 are characterized by autonomous oscillations of process variables. CO2 evolution rate, O2 uptake rate and heat prodn. rate varied by a factor of 2 for a continuous culture grown at a diln. rate of 0.10 h-1. Elemental anal. showed that the carbon mass fraction of biomass did not change. Since the reactor is not at steady state, the elemental and energy balances were calcd. on cumulated quantities, i.e., the integral of the reaction rates. It was possible to show that carbon, degree of redn. and energy balances matched. Application of simple mass balance principles for non-steady state systems indicated that oscillations were basically characterized by changes in biomass prodn. rate. In addn., the amt. of intermediates, e.g., ethanol or acetate, produced or consumed was negligible. Growth rate was low during the S-phase (0.075 h-1) and high during the G2, M and G1 phases (0.125 h-1) for a const. diln. rate of 0.10 h-1. However, nitrogen, ash, sulfur and potassium content showed systematic increases during the S-phase (bud initiation). Cell component analyses showed that changes in cellular fractions during oscillations (storage carbohydrate content decreased during the S-phase) were due to changes in prodn. rates, particularly for protein and carbohydrates. Nevertheless, using the data evaluation techniques for dynamic systems presented here, it was shown that storage carbohydrates are not consumed during the S-phase. Only the synthesis rate of the different cell components changed depending on position in cell cycle. The growth process may be divided into two phenomena: the formation of new cells during mitosis with a low yield, and size increase of newborn cells with high yield. Both kinetic and stoichiometric coeffs. varied with the position in the oscillation. The results showed that biomass structure changed and that specific growth rate, as well as biomass yield, varied by +-25% during the oscillation. [on SciFinder (R)]