13C-NMR analysis of Aspergillus mutants disturbed in pyruvate metabolism

The metabolic consequences of two defects in pyruvate metabolism of the hyphal fungus Aspergillus nidulans have been investigated by natural abundance 13C-NMR spectroscopy. A pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (pdh) mutant, grown on acetate, accumulates alanine upon starvation which is derived from mannitol reserves. The L-alanine level increases further upon incubation with the non-permissive substrate D-glucose. L-Glutamate is absent from these spectra as it is required both for the transamination of pyruvate and as a reaction on an impaired energy metabolism in such a pdh-deficient strain. A pyruvate carboxylase (pyc) mutant, grown upon acetate, only starts to accumulate alanine after a long incubation period with D-glucose, due to the long-lasting presence of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase and malic enzyme, which are both induced by growth on acetate. When this strain is grown on D-fructose and L-glutamate, alanine also accumulates within 3 h upon transfer to D-glucose.