Glucose-induced crypticity toward succinate metabolism in Saccharomyces lactis

Extension of Chronological Lifespan by Hexokinase Mutation in Kluyveromyces lactis Involves Increased Level of the Mitochondrial Chaperonin Hsp60

Oxidative damage, mitochondrial dysfunction, genomic instability, and telomere shortening represent all molecular processes proposed as causal factors in aging. Lifespan can be increased by metabolism through an influence on such processes. Glucose reduction extends chronological lifespan (CLS) of Saccharomyces cerevisiae through metabolic adaptation to respiration. To answer the question if the reduced CLS could be ascribed to glucose per se or to glucose repression of respiratory enzymes, we used the Kluyveromyces lactis yeast, where glucose repression does not affect the respiratory function. We identified the unique hexokinase, encoded by RAG5 gene, as an important player in influencing yeast lifespan by modulating mitochondrial functionality and the level of the mitochondrial chaperonin Hsp60. In this context, this hexokinase might have a regulatory role in the influence of CLS, shedding new light on the complex regulation played by hexokinases.

Asymmetry of glucose transport in the yeast, Kluyveromyces lactis

Uptake and efflux of 6-deoxy-D-[3H]glucose and of 2-deoxy-D-[14C]glucose by the yeast Kluyveromyces lactis was studied. The tritiated, nonphosphorylatable hexose analogue leaves the cell in the absence and presence of intracellular 2-deoxy-D-glucose 6-phosphate. In energy-rich cells containing pools of hexose 6-phosphate, 2-deoxy-D-glucose is trapped in the cells, for it neither effluxes into glucose-free medium nor exchanges with external, free sugar. In starved, poisoned cells containing negligible amounts of 2-deoxy-D-glucose 6-phosphate, 2-deoxy-D-glucose does leave the cells upon transfer to glucose-free medium. An involvement of analogue structure and availability of metabolites of energy-rich cells in hexose retention is suggested. An internal pool of 6-deoxy-D-glucose does not affect the rate of uptake of 6-deoxy-D-[3H]glucose, nor does internal 2-deoxy-D-[14C]glucose 6-phosphate influence that rate. Hence, transport of glucose by this yeast is probably not regulated by internal pools of glucose 6-phosphate.

Induction by glucose of an antimycin-insensitive, azide-sensitive respiration in the yeast Kluyveromyces lactis

Increasing the glucose concentration from 0.1 to 10% in exponentially growing cultures of Kluyveromyces lactis CBS 2359 does not repress the antimycin-sensitive respiration (QO2 of 80 microliter O2 . h-1 . mg-1 dry weight) but raises the antimycin-insensitive respiration from 3 to 12 microliter O2 . h-2 . mg-1 dry weight. Antimycin A inhibits the growth of K. lactis on a variety of substrates with the exception of glucose at concentrations equal to or higher than 1% where substantial antimycin-insensitive respiratory rates are induced. It can be concluded that a minimal antimycin-insensitive QO2 is necessary for cellular growth when the normal respiratory pathway is not functional. The antimycin-insensitive respiration elicited by growth in high glucose concentrations is poorly inhibited by hydroxamate and is inhibited by 50% by 90 microM azide or 1 mM cyanide. These concentrations are much higher than those necessary to inhibit cytochrome c oxidase which is not involved in the antimycin-insensitive respiration as was demonstrated by spectral measurements. A pigment absorbing at 555 nm is specifically reduced after addition of glucose to antimycin-inhibited cells. The same pigment is reoxidized by further addition of high concentrations of sodium azide indicating its participation in the antimycin-insensitive, azide-sensitive respiration.

The Pasteur effect and catabolite repression in an oxidative yeast, Kluyveromyces lactis

The presence of the Pasteur effect in Kluyveromyces lactis grown in glucose was shown by azide-stimulated glucose fermentation. Extracts from these cells contained ATP-sensitive phosphofructokinase activity. Cells grown on succinate oxidized glucose slowly at first without azide-stimulated rates of fermentation. Phosphofructokinase in these cells was ATP-insensitive. The activity of NAD+-isocitrate dehydrogenase in cell extracts did not require AMP activation. These results suggested the presence of a Pasteur effect in glucose-grown but not in succinate-grown K. lactis, mediated by (a) ATP inhibition of phosphofructokinase (b) possibly via feedback control of glucose transport, but not by AMP activation of isocitrate dehydrogenase. Azide inhibition of the Pasteur effect during growth of the cells did not lead to catabolite repression of respiratory activity. The results therefore suggest that the Pasteur effect does not inhibit the development of a Crabtree effect in oxidative yeasts.

Evidence for an inducible glucose transport system in Kluyveromyces lactis

To find the cause of delayed glucose oxidation in succinate-grown Kluyveromyces lactis, glucose transport was studied in glucose- and in succinate-grown cells. The initial rate of 2-deoxyglucose (2-dGlc) accumulation, as well as the appearance of 2-deoxyglucose 6-phosphate, was higher in the glucose-grown cells. In both cell types, 2-dGlc was apparently transported in the free form to be phosphorylated intracellularly. In glucose-grown cells the level of free 2-dGlc in the pool was always less than the external concentration. Exchange transport in starved, poisoned cells loaded with unlabeled 2-dGlc was 140-fold greater in glucose- than in succinate-grown cells, probably beacuse of the presence of an inducible transport component. The development of the increased rate of transport in a succinate-grown uracil-requiring auxotroph after transfer to glucose depends on the presence of uracil.