Detection of modifications in the glucose metabolism induced by genetic mutations in Saccharomyces cerevisiae by 13C- and H-NMR spectroscopy.

NMR spectroscopy may offer a suitable technique to characterize the glucose metabolism in response to genetic mutations in cells. The effects of various genetic modifications in Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast were investigated using 13C- and 1H-NMR spectroscopy associated with biochemical techniques. Cells were incubated with [1-13C]glucose in order to study glucose consumption and the formation of various end-products (ethanol, trehalose, glycerol, glutamate and amino acids) as a function of time. Two types of genetic modifications were studied in S. cerevisiae. A genetic modification deleted the N-terminal part of the TFC7 protein which is the smallest subunit (tau55) of the TFIIIC transcription factor. One secondary effect of this mutation was a large deletion of mitochondrial DNA giving the rho-phenotype. The other genetic modification corresponded to the disruption of the HUF gene; the mutated cells were rho+ like the reference strain. Both mutations increase the glycolysis rate and glycerol synthesis and decrease trehalose production. The most modified cells, which contain both TFC7 deletion and HUF gene disruption, utilize glucose in the most extreme manner as in these cells the largest production of the two glycolytic products (ethanol and glycerol) and the smallest trehalose formation occur. The HUF gene disruption serves as a positive modulator of glycolysis and respiration. However, the TFC7 deletion, associated with the phenotype rho-, induces the most damage in the cellular function, dramatically altering the behaviour of the Krebs cycle. The cycle becomes blocked at the level of 2-oxoglutarate, detected by a characteristic pattern of the 13C-NMR glutamate spectra. These NMR spectra corroborate the phenotypic data, the rho-phenotype corresponding to deletions of mitochondria DNA which block all mitochondria protein synthesis and render the cells unable to derive energy from respiration. Moreover, as a consequence of the Krebs cycle blocking, alanine formation is also observed.