The search for anticancer antibiotics; some theoretical problems

DIAGNOSTIC COLOR DIFFERENTIATION PLATES FOR HEREDITARY RESPIRATION DEFICIENCY IN YEAST

Nagai, Susumu (National Women's University, Nara, Japan). Diagnostic color differentiation plates for hereditary respiration deficiency in yeast. J. Bacteriol. 86:299-302. 1963.-Color differentiation between normal yeasts and their respiration-deficient mutants was improved by growing yeast colonies on nutrient agar plates containing several selected dyes and their mixtures. Magdala red (5 to 8 mg/liter) was good for single-color plates, giving deep-red sheen to the mutant colonies in contrast to the normal ones which tinted light red. A mixture of eosin (8 to 15 mg/liter, either Y or B) with trypan blue (15 to 20 mg/liter) was excellent in color and convenient to prepare, giving brilliant purple sheen to the mutant colonies contrasted to the normal ones which tinted grayish violet. These color plates were good over a broad range of Saccharomyces species, although the colony shades and suitable dye concentrations varied depending on the species and strains.

Response of Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains to antineoplastic agents

The effect of several antineoplastic agents on Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains has been investigated. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), minimum cytotoxic concentration (MCC) and median effective concentration (EC50) were determined to identify strains with inherent sensitivity to the agents tested. Several strains proved to be sensitive to the antimetabolites 5-fluorouracil and methotrexate as well as to doxorubicin and cis-platine. On the contrary m-amsacrine, procarbazine, vinca alcaloids, melphalan and hydroxyurea were inactive at concentrations up to 400 micrograms ml-1. The strain ATCC 2366, the most relatively sensitive to the agents tested, was used for studying the effect of treatment duration and of drug concentration on cell survival. Methotrexate and cis-platine, which according to MIC and MCC tests seemed ineffective for this strain, reduced survival significantly after 6 h of treatment. A correlation of the shape of the survival curves with MIC and MCC values was attempted.

Isocitrate dehydrogenases and oxoglutarate dehydrogenase activities of baker's yeast grown in a variety of hypoxic conditions

The activities of isocitrate dehydrogenase (NAD), isocitrate dehydrogenase (NADP) and oxoglutarate dehydrogenase have been investigated in Saccharomyces cerevisiae grown in a variety of aerobic and hypoxic conditions, the latter including oxygen deprivation, high glucose concentration, addition of inhibitors of mitochondrial protein synthesis, respiratory inhibition by azide, and impaired respiration mutants. All hypoxic conditions led to a marked decrease of oxoglutarate dehydrogenase and significant decreases of the two isocitrate dehydrogenases. According to its kinetic properties, the NAD-isocitrate dehydrogenase will not be operative in hypoxia "in vivo". From these and other related facts it is concluded that hypoxic conditions in yeast generally lead to a splitting of the tricarboxylic acid cycle and that glutamate synthesis in these conditions takes place through the coupling of the NADP-linked isocitrate and glutamate dehydrogenases.

Differential Reduction of Tellurite by Growing Colonies of Normal Yeast and Respiration-Deficient Mutants

Nagai, Susumu (National Women's University, Nara, Japan). Differential reduction of tellurite by growing colonies of normal yeast and respiration-deficient mutants. J. Bacteriol. 90: 220–222. 1965.—A differential reduction of sodium tellurite was observed between normal and respiration-deficient mutant colonies of several species of Saccharomyces . Normal colonies turned black in contrast to mutant colonies which remained nearly white when grown on an agar medium containing 30 to 40 mg per liter of tellurite. Schopfer's medium enriched with yeast extract and a mixture of vitamins was most suitable to develop such black-and-white contrast. The difference was far less obvious when the asparagine of this medium was replaced by other nitrogen sources such as glutamate, peptone, or Casamino Acids. Addition of ammonium sulfate to the medium weakened and sometimes completely reversed the contrast. The usefulness of tellurite medium for diagnostic color differentiation of respiration deficiency was considered.