TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - BIOTECHNOLOGY - Recombinant Methods (Disclosed): The cell is prepared by standard recombinant techniques. Preferred Components: The polynucleotide is in an expression vector. When the expression vector maintains a single copy per cell, the expression vector comprises a CEN/ARS origin of replication. When the expression vector maintains multiple copies per cell, the expression vector comprises a 2 mu origin of replication. The polynucleotide is integrated into the genome of the recombinant yeast cell. The AGT1 polypeptide comprises the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID No. 1 or comprises the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID No. 3 containing 593 amino acids. The recombinant yeast cell does not comprise a functional endogenous AGT1 gene. The recombinant yeast cell is from a strain selected from Saccharomyces, Schizosaccharomyces, Kluyveromyces, Trichosporon, Schwanniomyces, Pichia, Hansenula, Arxula, Candida, Kloeckera, and Yarrowia. The recombinant yeast cell is Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Preferred Method: In the modifying method, the polynucleotide is integrated into the genome of the yeast cell and the polynucleotide is inserted by introgression. In the modifying method, the yeast cell does not comprise a functional endogenous AGT1 gene.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - ORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Components: The oligosaccharide is a disaccharide or trisaccharide. The oligosaccharide is selected from isomaltulose, trehalulose, maltose, panose, and maltotriose (preferably isomaltulose or panose). The oligosaccharide is obtained from plant material, where the plant material is from maize, sugar beet, sorghum, or sugarcane. EXAMPLE - Fermentation of panose was carried out as follows: two strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae were tested for panose fermentation, Ethanol Red and 1334. An overnight yeast culture (yeast peptone base, 4% isomaltulose) (1 ml) was spun down and the pellet resuspended in 1 ml of 4% panose in a 1.5 ml Eppendorf tube. Samples were incubated overnight, approximately 16 hours, after which they were centrifuged to pellet the cells and the supernatants were taken for carbohydrate analyses. Carbohydrate separation and detection was done with a Dionex IC3000 system. For high resolution separation, one Carbopac PA200 3x 50 mm Guard Column followed by one Carbopac PA200 3x 250 mm analytical column were used for analysis. The electrode potentials were set to the carbohydrates standard quad with AgCl reference electrode. The eluent system utilized an isocratic mobile phase consisting of 100 mM NaOH and a gradient from 0 to 900 mM to 0 NaOAc with a 30 minute run time. Peak identification was based on standard retention time of panose. The result showed that strain 1334 was capable of fermenting panose. Under these conditions, 1334 degraded about 50% of the panose in the sample.