Effect of unsaturated fatty acids on the development of respiration and on protein synthesis in an unsaturated fatty acid mutant of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The extent of development of respiratory function induced by aeration of an anaerobically grown unsaturated fatty acid auxotroph of Saccharomyces cerevisiae is determined by the availability, endogenous or externally supplied, of unsaturated fatty acid. The synthesis of mitochondrial and cytoplasmic enzymes during aeration appears to have a similar basis of regulation by available unsaturated fatty acid. Levels of unsaturated fatty acid that permit the synthesis of mitochondrial enzymes also result in a substantial stimulation of cellular protein synthesis.