Glucose increases the expression of the ATP/ADP translocator and the glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase genes in Chlorella

Abstract

A presumably full-length cDNA clone of the mitochondrial ATP/ADP translocator (AAT) of Chlorella kessleri has been isolated and sequenced. The expression of the AAT gene is highly increased in the presence of D-glucose (14 mM). At least nine more genes are activated when autotrophically grown Chlorella cells switch to heterotrophic growth. Among these is the HUP1 gene coding for the hexose transporter (Sauer, N., Caspari, T., Klebl, F., and Tanner, W. (1990) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 87, 7949-7952) and, as also shown in this paper, the glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) gene. When glucose or the nonmetabolizable analogue 6-deoxyglucose is added to the cells, an increased expression of GAPDH or AAT is observed after 10 or 30 min, respectively. Hexose uptake mutants (HUP1-) do not respond to sugars in this way, which indicates that either the inducer has to be internalized or that the HUP1 translocator is part of the signal transduction mechanism.