13C NMR study of transamination during acetate utilization by Saccharomyces cerevisiae

13C NMR was used to follow the metabolism of [2- 13C]acetate and [1- 13C]acetate in aerobic suspensions of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In the experiment with [2- 13C]acetate, the 13C label appeared first in glutamate C4 and subsequently in glutamate C2 and C3. After exhaustion of the acetate, the glutamate signals diminished and the aspartate C2 and C3 peaks increased. During a subsequent chase experiment with unlabeled acetate, the aspartate peaks decreased and the glutamate C2 and C3 peaks increased in intensity. These observations are interpreted in terms of an interplay between the glutamic-oxalacetic transaminase and Krebs cycle activity. This interpretation was confirmed by an experiment with the transaminase inhibitor 2-amino oxyacetate. During all of these experiments, we observed the formation of trehalose. The NMR gives a direct measurement of the label distribution and from that information it followed that the flows through the glyoxylate and the Krebs cycles are comparable. The intermediates citrate, succinate, fumarate, malate, phosphoenolpyruvate, 3-phosphoglycerate, and glucose 6-phosphate were identified in a 13C NMR spectrum of a perchloric acid extract taken during the metabolism of [2- 13C]acetate. Enrichment of the glutamate C5 position shows the existence of a futile cycle in which phosphoenolpyruvate, formed from oxaloacetate, returns to the Krebs cycle through pyruvate and acetyl CoA