Cyclic changes in metabolic state during the life of a yeast cell

doi:10.1073/pnas.0708365104

Cyclic changes in metabolic state during the life of a yeast cell

*Department of Biochemistry, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 5323 Harry Hines Boulevard, Dallas, TX 75390-9038; and
Departments of ^‡Chemistry and
^§Biochemistry, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195

Edited by Randy Schekman, University of California, Berkeley, CA, and approved September 6, 2007 (received for review July 12, 2007)

Abstract

Budding yeast undergo robust oscillations in oxygen consumption during continuous growth in a nutrient-limited environment. Using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry and comprehensive 2D gas chromatography-mass spectrometry-based metabolite profiling methods, we have determined that the intracellular concentrations of many metabolites change periodically as a function of these metabolic cycles. These results reveal the logic of cellular metabolism during different phases of the life of a yeast cell. They may further indicate that oscillation in the abundance of key metabolites might help control the temporal regulation of cellular processes and the establishment of a cycle. Such oscillations in metabolic state might occur during the course of other biological cycles.

Footnotes

^†To whom correspondence may be addressed. E-mail: benjamin.tu{at}utsouthwestern.edu or steven.mcknight{at}utsouthwestern.edu
Author contributions: B.P.T., E.T.Y., R.E.S., and S.L.M. designed research; B.P.T., R.E.M., J.C.L., and K.M.D. performed research; R.E.M. and R.E.S. contributed new reagents/analytic tools; B.P.T. and R.E.M. analyzed data; and B.P.T. and S.L.M. wrote the paper.
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
This article is a PNAS Direct Submission.
This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/0708365104/DC1.
Abbreviations:

ALA,

aminolevulinic acid;

GSH,

glutathione;

LC,

liquid chromatography;

Ox,

oxidative;

RB,

reductive/building;

RC,

reductive/charging;

SAH,

S-adenosylhomocysteine;

SAM,

S-adenosylmethionine;

TOFMS,

time-of-flight mass spectrometry;

YMC,

yeast metabolic cycle.