Comparative studies of the biological activities of lysosomotropic aminoesters and quaternary ammonium salts on the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The biological activity of lysosomotropic n-alkyl N,N-dimethylglycinates (DMG-n) was compared with that of a quaternary ammonium salt IM (methochloride of DMG-12). The activity of the glycinates appeared to be carbon chain length dependent and was similar at pH 6 and pH 8. Nutritional auxotrophy and respiratory deficiencies have no influence on DMG-n sensitivity. Both IM and DMG-n inhibit plasma membrane H+-ATPase activity while mitochondrial ATPase is relatively non-sensitive to glycinates. No cross-resistance to IM and DMG-n was observed.