Isolation and characterization of Saccharomyces cerevisiae mutants defective in glycerol catabolism.

Mutants of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae that are defective in the catabolism of glycerol were isolated, and two types of mutants were obtained. One type was deficient in glycerol kinase activity, whereas the other type was deficient in sn-glycerol 3-phosphate dehydrogenase activity. Genetic analysis indicated that each mutant strain owed its phenotype to a single nuclear mutation, and that the two mutations were complementary. The mutations were not linked to each other or to any of 10 loci tested. In addition, neither mutation was centromere linked. Possible mechanisms for the regulation of these enzymes were tested by growing the parental strain in the presence of various carbon sources.