Effect of l-Methionine and S-Adenosylmethionine on Growth of an Adenine Mutant of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

A pink, adenine-requiring yeast utilized adenine, hypoxanthine, or S -adenosylmethionine (SAM), in quantities up to 3 μmoles per 100 ml of medium, as equivalent sources of purine for cell growth, but not methylthioadenosine or S -adenosylhomocysteine. Utilization of SAM for growth was inhibited by the presence of l-methionine in quantities greater than 0.6 μmole per 100 ml of medium. However, 6 μmoles of l-methionine had no effect on growth when adenine or hypoxanthine was the source of purine. These sources also reversed the inhibitory effects of 6 μmoles of the amino acid on the utilization of SAM. The presence of 400 μmoles of the amino acid resulted in some inhibition of growth when the organisms were grown with adenine, hypoxanthine, or adenine plus SAM but had no effect on the total uptake of adenine- 8 - 14 C . Studies on the uptake of radioactivity from a mixture of SAM-adenine- 8 - 14 C and 3 H-labeled SAM-methyl indicated that these components were taken into the cells at different rates which were altered by the presence of l-methionine. The fixation of 35 S from 35 S-labeled adenosylmethionine into the cells was inhibited by the presence of the amino acid. The cells synthesized and accumulated SAM in the presence of 400 μmoles of l-methionine plus adenine even when exogenous SAM was supplied. Approximately 47% of radioactivity fixed from exogenous SAM-adenine- 8 - 14 C and 12% from 3 H-labeled SAM-methyl were found in reisolated SAM.