Beta-oxidation of butyrate, the short-chain-length fatty acid, occurs in peroxisomes in the yeast Candida tropicalis.

When an n-alkane-utilizable yeast, Candida tropicalis pK233, was cultivated on butyrate, the fatty acid of shortest chain-length for beta-oxidation, as the sole source of carbon and energy, catalase and the enzymes of the fatty acid beta-oxidation system were inducibly synthesized at high levels. As in the alkane-grown cells, the proliferation of peroxisomes was harmonized with the induction of peroxisomal enzymes. The results of subcellular fractionation and immunoelectronmicroscopy indicated the localization of these enzymes in peroxisomes, not in mitochondria. It was suggested that only peroxisomes have a role in fatty acid beta-oxidation in the yeast cells, unlike in mammalian cells, in which cooperation between peroxisomes and mitochondria is essential.