Isolation and characterization of carbon catabolite repression mutants in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Two carbon catabolite repression mutants of S. cerevisiae were isolated and characterized. In spite of the selection procedure (red colonies after tetrazolium overlay at high glucose concentration) the mutants exhibited a respiration which was as repressed as that of the parental strain or even more repressed. When grown at high glucose concentration the mutants display hyper-repression of cytochrome aa3 and of certain mitochondrial enzymes (L- and D-lactate dehydrogenases) but not of others (malate dehydrogenase, succinate dehydrogenase), indicating the existence of separate control sites for the different genes involved in the mitochondrial biogenesis. The data obtained pointed out that the same mutation affects both repression and derepression. In addition, the mutation(s) give rise to the complete derepression of the cytoplasmic enzyme NAD-glutamate dehydrogenase at 10% glucose whereas the enzyme is normally repressed at 3% glucose. The results of the genetic analysis indicate the mitochondrial nature of the mutation(s).