Rapid kinetics of glucose uptake in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

In a multiple deletion mutant hxt1deltahxt2deltahxt3delta hxt4deltasnf3delta of Saccharomyces cerevisiae growing on a 2% glucose, high-affinity glucose-uptake (low Km) was exhibited throughout growth on glucose in contrast to the wild-type, which exhibited the usual low-affinity to high-affinity transition as the glucose in the medium was consumed. Elevated levels of invertase activity throughout growth on glucose, in this mutant as compared to the wild-type, indicate that glucose repression may be impaired. However, in a mutant containing only the HXT2 gene (hxt1deltahxt3deltahxt4deltasnf3delta), invertase levels were similar to those in the wild-type. It is likely, therefore, that some of these putative glucose transporters, such as HXT2, also have regulatory roles in cellular metabolism. In triple hexose-kinase mutants, rapid (200-ms) measurements of initial glucose-uptake revealed high-affinity glucose uptake (Km approx. 2 mmol/L) while measurements on the slower 5-s scale clearly demonstrate that uptake is not linear over this longer period. These results suggest that this high-affinity component does not require a functional hexose-kinase.