Why Saccharomyces cerevisiae can oxidize but not decarboxylate external pyruvate

Protoplasts of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae oxidized externally added pyruvate by pyruvate oxidase system but were not able to decarboxylate it anaerobically by pyruvate decarboxylase at pH 6.4 in isotonic solutions. The decarboxylation set in hypotonic solutions in which the integrity of the plasma membrane was being impaired. Yeast cells incubated with [1-14C]pyruvate accumulated radioactivity under conditions allowing oxidation of pyruvate, but virtually no pyruvate was taken up when the oxidation had been arrested by inhibition or mutation. In view of a large difference between Km for pyruvate of pyruvate decarboxylase (30 mM) and of pyruvate oxidase (0.16 mM), the results may be accounted for by the assumption that transport of pyruvate across the yeast plasma membrane is trans-inhibited by relatively high concentrations of intracellular pyruvate. This arrangement would allow utilization of external pyruvate by the cell energy-transforming machinery and, at the same time, prevent its wastage by futile decarboxylation.