The role of xylulokinase in Saccharomyces cerevisiae xylulose catabolism

Peter Richard*, Mervi H. Toivari, Merja Penttilä

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

    83 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Many yeast species have growth rates on D-xylulose of 25-130% of those on glucose, but for Saccharomyces cerevisiae this ratio is only about 6%. The xylulokinase reaction has been proposed to be the rate-limiting step in the D-xylulose fermentation with S. cerevisiae. Over-expression of xylulokinase encoding XKS1 stimulated growth on D-xylulose in a S. cerevisiae strain to about 20% of the growth rate on glucose and deletion of the gene prevented growth on D-xylulose and D-xylulose metabolism. We have partially purified the xylulokinase and characterised its kinetic properties. It is reversible and will also accept D-ribulose as a substrate. (C) 2000 Federation of European Microbiological Societies.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)39-43
    Number of pages5
    JournalFEMS Microbiology Letters
    Volume190
    Issue number1
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 1 Sept 2000
    MoE publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

    Funding

    P.R. was supported through Grant no. BIO4CT965020 from the Commission of the EU. We thank Jenita Rauta and Eila Leino for technical assistance and John Londesborough for useful discussions.

    Keywords

    • D-Ribulose
    • D-Xylulose
    • Saccharomyces cerevisiae
    • Xylose fermentation
    • Xylulokinase

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