A. Veiga et al., Cyanide-resistant respiration is frequent, but confined to yeasts incapable of aerobic fermentation, FEMS MICROB, 190(1), 2000, pp. 93-97
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.