Lysine inhibition of Saccharomyces cerevisiae: role of repressible L-lysine ε-aminotransferase.

Lysine added to grain mashes under nitrogen-limiting conditions (as in most industrial fermentations) inhibited growth of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. This inhibition was relieved by raising the assimilable nitrogen content. Lysine-induced inhibition is not mediated through accumulation of α-oxoadipic acid, an intermediate of lysine metabolism which accumulates by a back up of intermediates in de novo synthesis. Lysine degradation is regulated by the synthesis of L-lysine ε-aminotransferase, an enzyme that catalyses the first step in one of three possible routes of lysine degradation (not previously reported in S. cerevisiae). Synthesis is repressed under nitrogenlimiting conditions, but derepressed when excess assimilable nitrogen is available. Derepression results in degradation of lysine and decreases inhibitory effects on growth. The toxic compound appears to be lysine itself.