Activity and substrate specificity of the alcohol dehydrogenases of n-alkane oxidizing yeasts

The activity and substrate specificity of alcohol dehydrogenases (ADH) in the fractions of cytosol and membrane particles were compared in the yeasts Torulopsis candida, Candida lipolytica and Candida tropicalis grown in media with glucose and hexadecane. In all studied yeast cultures growing in the medium with hexadecane, NAD-dependent ADH specifically dehydrogenating only medium and higher alcohols are induced in the membrane structures of the cells. Soluble ADH are found in the cytosol of the cultures grown either on glucose or on hexadecane. These ADH oxidize all alcohols with the carbon chain length from C2 to C16. As was found by electrophoresis in polyacrylamide gel, the number of ADH molecular forms in the cytosol fraction of the cultures depends on the carbon growth substrate being used and the peculiarities of yeast culture.