Cyanide-resistant respiration is frequent, but confined to yeasts incapable of aerobic fermentation

In Pichia membranifaciens, cyanide-resistant respiration (CRR) sensitive to salicylhydroxamic acid emerged after forced aeration of starved cells for 4 h. Surveying a large number of species by this simple methodology, we fou nd that CRR is very frequent among yeasts. Remarkably, considering our resu lts together with previous data in the literature, CRR was present in 24 ou t of 28 non-fermentative or Crabtree-negative yeasts and absent in 10 out o f 12 Crabtree-positive yeasts. We submit that, as alternatives to cytochrom ic respiration, yeasts developed two strategies: either aerobic fermentatio n in Crabtree-positive yeasts or CRR in non-fermentative or Crabtree-negati ve yeasts. (C) 2000 Federation of European Microbiological Societies. Publi shed by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.