Phosphorus-31 and carbon-13 NMR studies of intermediates of aerobic and anaerobic glycolysis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Abstract

The levels of intermediates of aerobic and anaerobic glycolysis were determined in perchloric acid extracts prepared from glycolyzing suspensions of Saccharomyces cerevisiae by 31P and 13C NMR spectroscopy. From 31P NMR measurements a small increase in the level of nucleoside triphosphates was found in derepressed cells upon oxygenation, while the ratio of nucleoside diphosphates to nucleoside triphosphates was a factor of 3 lower aerobically. Combined with the previous observation that the level of intracellular Pi is lower by a factor of 3 aerobically, this leads to the conclusion that the phosphate potential [NTP]/([NDP][Pi]) is lower by an order of magnitude during anaerobic glycolysis than during aerobic glycolysis. There was no correlation between the level of glucose 6-phosphate and the rate of glucose utilization. We used 13C NMR to determine the scrambling of the 13C label from C1 to C6 in fructose 1,6-bisphosphate (Fru-P2). There was more scrambling of the label during aerobic than during anaerobic glycolysis. Since the level of Fru-P2 did not change much upon oxygenation, this suggests that in aerobic glycolysis there is control of at least one enzyme in the lower part of the Embden-Meyerhof-Parnas pathway, below Fru-P2, which gives the 13C level more time to equilibrate between C1 and C6 of Fru-P2. Previous 13C NMR measurements of glucose utilization rates had shown a 2-fold reduction upon oxygenation, reflecting control in the early stages of the pathway.