Effects of oxygen tension and glucose repression of mitochondrial protein synthesis in continuous cultures of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Continuous cultures of Saccharomyces cerevisiae grown over a range of oxygen and glucose concentrations were used to determine the effects of these two physiological regulators on mitochondrial protein synthesis in vivo. Quantitative estimates were obtained of the contribution of the mitochondrial protein-synthesizing system to the formation of mitochondrial membranes in cells grown over a wide range of dissolved oxygen concentrations, under conditions of glucose limitation or glucose excess in the cultures. The nature of the products of the mitochondrial system formed under these conditions was examined by selectively labeling membrane proteins in vivo in the presence of cycloheximide, and fractionating the products by gel electrophoresis under dissociating conditions. These results have been correlated with changes in the lipid composition of the cells and with the synthesis and assembly of components of the mitochondrial adenosine 5'-triphosphatase complex.