The concentration of amino acids by yeast cells depleted of adenosine triphosphate.
1. The ATP content of preparations of a strain of Saccharomyces carlsbergensis was lowered below 0.3nmol/mg of yeast by starving the yeast cells in the presence of both antimycin and 5mm-deoxyglucose. 2. When the depleted cells were put at pH4.5 with glycine up to about 20nmol of the amino acid/mg of yeast was absorbed without being chemically modified. The mechanism did not depend on an exchange with endogenous amino acids. 3. The concentration of the absorbed glycine could apparently reach 100-200 times that outside the cells. 4. Replacement of the cellular K(+) by Na(+) almost stopped amino acid absorption in the presence of antimycin and deoxyglucose, but not in their absence. 5. It is suggested that, when energy metabolism itself had stopped, a purely physical process, namely the movements of H(+) and K(+) into and out of the yeast respectively, served to concentrate the amino acids in the cells. Both ionic species appear to be co-substrates of the system transporting amino acids.
D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate; D000596:Amino Acids / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology; D001692:Biological Transport / Q000187:drug effects; D005998:Glycine / Q000378:metabolism; D006601:Hexoses / Q000494:pharmacology; D006859:Hydrogen / Q000378:metabolism; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D011188:Potassium / Q000378:metabolism; D012440:Saccharomyces / Q000378:metabolism*; D012964:Sodium / Q000494:pharmacology
D000596:Amino Acids; D006601:Hexoses; D006859:Hydrogen; D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate; D012964:Sodium; D011188:Potassium; D005998:Glycine