Effectiveness of various unsaturated fatty acids in supporting growth and respiration in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The saturated fatty acid auxotroph of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, KD115, was used to determine the efficiency of various unsaturated fatty acids in supporting growth. The efficiency, as the number of cells produced per fmol of unsaturated fatty acid, ranged from zero for a number of acids to over 26 cells per fmol of eicosapentaenoic acid. Efficiencies tended to be higher for acids with fewer carbons or more double bonds. In a series of positional isomers of cis-octadecenoic acid, the delta9 isomer had the greatest efficiency (12 cells per fmol). Exogenous oleic acid was taken up and incorporated into cellular lipid early in the growth of the cells. Further growth proceeded with a decrease in the relative content of oleate in lipids until a minimum value of 9 mol % was reached at stationary phase. The initial concentration of supplemental acid did not affect the final mole % value. Other unsaturated fatty acids reached limiting values of mole % in phospholipid at stationary phase that were characteristic for the acid used. When cells were grown with glycerol as the carbon source, the efficiencies of most acids in supporting growth were one-third to one-fifth the value with glucose and the final mole % of supplement acid in phospholipid at stationary phase was two to five times greater. Apparently, mitochondrial energy transduction necessary for glycerol utilization requires higher levels of unsaturated fatty acids in membrane lipids than do extramitochondrial functions. The respiratory rate of mitochondria was not decreased at lower levels of oleic or palmitoleic acid in lipids, although respiratory control was lower when the mole % of unsaturated fatty acid was lower. Mitochondria from cells supplemented with eicosaenoic acid were found to have both low respiration and respiratory control. The decreased respiration of these mitochondria coincided with a decreased cytochrome content, not a decrease in respiration per mol of cytochrome.