Effects of phosphoglycerate kinase overproduction in Saccharomyces cerevisiae on the physiology and plasmid stability.

In this report the effects of phosphoglycerate kinase (PGK) overproduction on the physiology and plasmid stability in baker's yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae containing the PGK1 gene on an episomal plasmid are described. This examination reveals that there is a preferred intracellular level for this enzyme, amounting to 10-15% of the total soluble protein. Strains containing the plasmid and the host strain were grown in non-selective batch cultures and continuous culture, under different growth conditions. Plasmid-containing yeast strains stabilize the copy number of the episomal plasmid at a level at which the PGK concentration is about 12%. This stabilization is due to an equilibrium between normal plasmid loss and selective pressure because of advantages resulting from the increased amount of PGK under glucose-limited conditions. During respiro-fermentative growth, PGK-overproducing cells showed an increased respiration rate and decreased fermentative activity, compared to the host strain. The PGK1 gene can be applied as a direct positive selection marker to obtain a high episomal plasmid stability during growth on glucose. The results are consistent with previously reported data on the physiology and gene stability of PGK-overproducing yeast cells that contain multiple copies of the PGK1 gene integrated into the genome.