Oleic acid delays and modulates the transition from respiratory to fermentative metabolism in Saccharomyces cerevisiae after exposure to glucose excess

This work aimed to study the transition from respiratory to fermentative metabolism in Saccharomyces cerevisiae CEN.PK 113-7D and more specifically to evaluate the implication of the acetyl-coenzymeA-derived carbon transport from cytosol to mitochondria in the onset of the metabolic shift. The strategy consisted in introducing, during aerobic glucose-limited chemostat (D = 0.16 h1), a local perturbation around the step to be studied by the addition of cosubstrate and in analyzing the consequences of such a perturbation on the metabolic transition. Oleic acid and l-carnitine were among the tested cosubstrates because they were known to stimulate enzymes implicated in the acetyl-coenzymeA transport between the different cell compartments, such as the carnitine acetyl transferases. The metabolic transition was then comparatively quantified in sole glucose and in glucose/oleic acid chemostats in presence/absence of l-carnitine after a pulse of glucose. Feeding the culture with oleic acid (Dole = 0.0041 and 0.0073 h1) led to a delay in the onset of the metabolic shift (up to 15 min), a 33% decrease in the ethanol production and a redirection of the carbon flux toward biomass production. The data clearly showed a modulation of the carbon distribution among respiration and fermentation, in favor of a decrease in the “short-term” Crabtree effect by the oleic acid.