[Activities of some yeast flavogenic enzymes in situ]

Effects of digitonin, dimethylsulfoxide and protamine sulfate on yeast Pichia guilliermondii were studied in order to produce cells with increased permeability and possessing the GTP-cyclohydrolase, riboflavinsynthetase and riboflavinkinase activities. The digitonin-treated cells exhibited a higher cyclohydrolase activity than the cell-free extracts; the activities of riboflavinsynthetase and riboflavinkinase in the cells and cell-free extracts were found to be similar. Treatment of cells with dimethylsulfoxide proved to be most effective to determine the activity of GTP-cyclohydrolase and also helpful to determine that of riboflavinsynthetase. Protamine sulfate had no effect on the cells of P. guilliermondii. The methods developed were used to determine the activities of GTP-cyclohydrolase, riboflavinsynthetase and riboflavinkinase in the cells of flavinogenic (P. guiller-mondii, Torulopsis candida) and non-flavinogenic (Candida utilis, Candida pulcherrima) yeasts grown in iron-rich and iron-deficient media. Derepression of riboflavinsynthetase and GTP-cyclohydrolase syntheses under conditions of Fe deficiency in the flavinogenic yeast cells confirmed previously made assumptions.