THE NUCLEOTIDE-SEQUENCE AND INITIAL CHARACTERIZATION OF PYRUVATE DECARBOXYLASE FROM THE YEAST HANSENIASPORA-UVARUM

We have isolated a pyruvate decarboxylase (PDC) gene from the yeast Ha nseniaspora uvarum using the Saccharomyces cerevisiae PDC1 gene as a p robe. The nucleotide sequence of this gene was determined and compared to PDC genes from yeast and other organisms. The H. uvarum PDC gene i s more than 70% identical to the S. cerevisiae PDC isozymes and posses ses a putative thiamine diphosphate binding site. The PDC enzyme was p urified and partially characterized. The H. uvarum PDC was very simila r to other known PDCs; the K-m for pyruvate was 0.75 mM, and the enzym e is a homotetramer with subunits of M(r)=57000. The sequence has been submitted to GenBank under Accession No. U13635.