Altered regulatory responses to glucose are associated with a glucose transport defect in grr1 mutants of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The GRR1 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae affects glucose repression, cell morphology, divalent cation transport and other processes. We present a kinetic analysis showing that the grr1 mutant is also defective in high affinity glucose transport. In combination with a mutation in SNF3, a member of the glucose transporter gene family, grr1 strikingly impairs growth on glucose. These findings suggest that GRR1 and SNF3 affect glucose transport by distinct pathways. The mutation rgt1-1, a suppressor of snf3, restores both glucose transport and glucose repression to a grr1 mutant, but does not remedy the morphological defect. We suggest that GRR1 affects the glucose sensing process and that the association between transport and regulation may reflect the involvement of a transporter in glucose sensing.