Oscillations in glycolysis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae: the role of autocatalysis and intracellular ATPase activity.

We have investigated the glycolytic oscillations, measured as NADH autofluorescence, in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae in a batch reactor. Specifically, we have tested the effect of cell density and a number of inhibitors or activators of ATPase activity on the amplitude of the oscillations. The amplitude dependence on cell density shows the same behavior as that observed in cells in a CSTR. Furthermore, the amplitude decreases with increasing inhibition of the three ATPases (i) F(0)F(1) ATPase, (ii) plasma membrane ATPase (Pma1p) and (iii) vacuolar ATPase (V-ATPase). The amplitude of the oscillations also decreases by stimulating the ATPase activity, e.g. by FCCP or Amphotericin B. Thus, ATPase activity strongly affects the glycolytic oscillations. We discuss these data in relation to a simple autocatalytic model of glycolysis which can reproduce the experimental data and explain the role of membrane-bound ATPases . In addition we also studied a recent detailed model of glycolysis and found that, although this model faithfully reproduces the oscillations of glycolytic intermediates observed experimentally, it is not able to explain the role of ATPase activity on the oscillations.