A yeast mutant with glucose-resistant formation of mitochondrial enzymes

Abstract

Yeast mutants with glucose-insensitive formation of mitochondrial enzymes were isolated starting with a strain completely lacking alcohol dehydrogenase activity. The mutations could uniquely be attributed to a single nuclear gene, designated CCR80. They were largely dominant. Glucose-resistant enzyme formation was most prominent with regard to mitochondrial enzymes succinate dehydrogenase and NADH: cytochrome c oxidoreductase. The effect of CCR80r mutations was rather small but significant on the gluconeogenetic enzymes isocitrate lyase, malate synthase and fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase and on invertase synthesis. The repressive effect of maltose in CCR80r mutants was also reduced showing that glucose-resistance is not caused by a mere hexose uptake defect. This regulatory disorders were not accompanied by reduced levels of glycolytic enzymes or drastically altered levels of glycolytic intermediates. Aerobic fermentation of glucose was almost completely inhibited in the mutants; anaerobic glucose degradation was reduced but not completely abolished. Therefore, the mutants appear to be altered in the regulation of glycolysis. A largely glucose-resistant synthesis of respiratory enzymes is obviously a corollary of this alteration.