Enzyme Activities in Oleaginous Yeasts Accumulating and Utilizing Exogenous or Endogenous Lipids

The activities of ATP:citrate lyase (ACL; EC 4.1.3.8), carnitine acetyltransferase (CAT; EC 2.3.1.7), NADP+-dependent isocitrate dehydrogenase (ICDH; EC 1.1.1.42), isocitrate lyase (ICL; EC 4.1.3.1) and malic enzyme (malate dehydrogenase; EC 1.1.1.40) were measured in four oleaginous yeasts, Candida curvata D, Trichosporon cutaneum and two strains of Rhodosporidium toruloides, grown either to accumulate lipid, or to utilize their own lipid reserves or an exogenous supply of lipid. During lipid utilization, activities of ACL and malic enzyme diminished to low levels; CAT and ICL increased considerably in activity and ICDH activity was slightly increased but catalase (EC 1.11.1.6) diminished in activity in both strains of R. toruloides. In all cases, yeasts utilizing exogenous lipid showed greater changes in enzyme activities than cells utilizing their endogenous reserves. Electron micrographs of Candida curvata D showed proliferation of peroxisomes in starved cells utilizing their own lipid reserve though peroxisomes were more in evidence when the yeast had been grown on exogenous lipid. In Lipomyces starkeyi, which shows only minimal utilization of its stored lipid and furthermore cannot grow on exogenous lipid, only the occasional peroxisome was seen when cells were starved of carbon.