Effects of tellurite on growth of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
The effects of potassium tellurite on growth and survival of rho(+) and rho(0) Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains were investigated. Both rho(+) and rho(0) strains grew on a fermentable carbon source with up to 1.2 mM K(2)TeO(3), while rho(+) yeast cells grown on a non-fermentable carbon source were inhibited at tellurite levels as low as 50 muM suggesting that this metalloid specifically inhibited mitochondrial functions. Growth of rho(+) yeast cells in the presence of increasing amount of tellurite resulted in dose-dependent blackening of the culture, a phenomenon not observed with rho(0) cultures. Transmission electron microscopy of S. cerevisiae rho(+) cells grown in the presence of tellurite showed that blackening was likely due to elemental tellurium (Te(0)) that formed large deposits along the cell wall and small precipitates in both the cytoplasm and mitochondria.
Massardo
Domenica R
DR
Institute of Genetics and Biophysics Adriano Buzzati-Traverso, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Via Pietro Castellino, 111, 80131 Naples, Italy.
Pontieri
Paola
P
Maddaluno
Loredana
L
De Stefano
Mario
M
Alifano
Pietro
P
Del Giudice
Luigi
L
D002244:Carbon / Q000378:metabolism; D005285:Fermentation / Q000187:drug effects; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000254:growth & development; D013691:Tellurium / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology
C026899:potassium tellurate(IV); D002244:Carbon; C026660:tellurous acid; D013691:Tellurium