Kinetics of glucose repression of yeast cytochrome c.

The kinetics of glucose repression of cytochrome c synthesis was measured by a radioimmune assay. When 5 or 10% glucose was added to a derepressed culture, the rate of cytochrome c synthesis was reduced to the repressed level with a half-life of 2 min. The addition of 1 or 0.5% glucose repressed the rate of cytochrome c synthesis to the same level as high glucose concentrations but with a longer half-life of 3 min. Glucose repression had no effect on the stability or function of the cytochrome c protein. Cellular levels of active cytochrome c mRNA during glucose repression were measured by translation of total cellular polyadenylic acid-containing RNA and immunoprecipitation cytochrome c from the translation products. The results of these measurements indicate that glucose represses the rate of cytochrome c synthesis through a reduction in the level of translatable cytochrome c mRNA.