Eight different enzymes for glycolysis and alcoholic fermentation were overproduced in a common Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain by placing their genes on multicopy vectors. The specific enzyme activities were increased between 3.7- and 13.9-fold above the wild-type level. The overproduction of the different glycolytic enzymes had no effect on the rate of ethanol formation, even with those enzymes that catalyse irreversible steps: hexokinase, phosphofructokinase and pyruvate kinase. Also the simultaneous increase in the activities of pairs of enzymes such as pyruvate kinase and phosphofructokinase or pyruvate decarboxylase and alcohol dehydrogenase, did not increase the rate of ethanol production. The levels of key glycolytic metabolites were also normal, compared to the reference strain.

We deleted most of the pyruvate decarboxylase structural gene PDC1 from the genome of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Surprisingly, mutants carrying this deletion allele showed a completely different phenotype than previously described point mutations. They were able to ferment glucose and their specific pyruvate decarboxylase activity was only reduced to 45% of the wild type level. Northern blot analysis revealed that a sequence in the yeast genome homologous to PDC1 and formerly designated as a possible pseudogene is expressed and may code for a different but closely related pyruvate decarboxylase. The products of the two PDC genes seem to form hybrid oligomers, however both homooligomers have enzyme activity. Thus, the product of the PDC1 gene is not absolutely necessary for glucose fermentation in yeast.

We have cloned the structural gene for yeast transaldolase. Transformants carrying the TALl gene on a multicopy plasmid over-produced transaldolase. A deletion mutant which was constructed using the cloned gene did not show any detectable transaldolase activity in vitro. Furthermore, both transaldolase isoenzymes which were detected in wild-type crude extracts by immunoblotting were missing in the deletion mutants. Thus, TALl is the only transaldolase structural gene in yeast.TALI is not an essential gene. Deletion of the transaldolase gene did not affect growth on complete media with different carbon sources or on synthetic media. However, the transaldolase-deficient strains accumulated sedoheptulose 7-phosphate, an intermediate of the pentose-phosphate pathway. Mutants lacking both transaldolase and phosphoglucose isomerase grew more slowly than the single mutants. They accumulated more sedoheptulose 7-phosphate on medium containing fructose than on glucose medium. This shows that fructose 6-phosphate and glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate, metabolites of glycolysis, can enter the nonoxidative part of the pentose-phosphate pathway.