A rapid method for the differentiation of yeast cells grown under carbon and nitrogen-limited conditions by means of partial least squares discriminant analysis employing infrared micro-spectroscopic data of entire yeast cells

► Direct spectra acquisition of entire yeast cells employing an FTIR microscope. ► PLS-DA for differentiating cells grown under carbon and nitrogen-limited conditions. ► Model validation based on permutation testing and an external validation set. ► Variable Importance in Projection (VIP) scores for detecting relevant variables. ► Feasibility study for the development of an IR-based in-line process control tool.