Secretion can proceed uncoupled from net plasma membrane expansion in inositol-starved Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Secretion of acid phosphatase and invertase was examined in an inositol-requiring ino1 mutant of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Inositol starvation is known to block plasma membrane expansion, presumably due to restricted membrane phospholipid synthesis. If membrane expansion and extracellular protein secretion are accomplished by the same intracellular transport process, one would expect secretion to fail coordinately with cessation of plasma membrane growth in inositol-starved cells. In glucose-grown, inositol-starved cells, plasma membrane expansion and acid phosphatase secretion stopped coordinately, and intracellular acid phosphatase accumulated. In sucrose-grown, inositol-starved cells, plasma membrane growth halted, but secretion of both acid phosphatase and invertase continued until the onset of inositol-less death. Although glucose-grown and sucrose-grown cells differ in their ability to secrete when deprived of inositol, they exhibited the same disturbances in phospholipid synthesis. Phosphatidylinositol synthesis failed, and its precursors phosphatidic acid and CDP-diglyceride accumulated equally in both cultures. Sucrose-grown yeast cells appear to accomplish normal levels of extracellular protein secretion by an inositol-independent mechanism. In glucose-grown yeasts, both plasma membrane expansion and secretion are inositol dependent.