The role of malic acid in the metabolism of Schizosaccharomyces pombe: substrate consumption and cell growth

Summary The effect of initial concentrations of malate varying from 0 to 28.6 g/l was studied. The acid was found to be inhibitory for growth of Schizosaccharomyces pombe but not for its deacidification activity. Malate was never integrated into biomass but partly transformed into ethanol if the aeration rate was weak (oxygen limitation). In the absence of glucose, resting cells of S. pombe were able to degrade malic acid if their concentration was sufficient, but their viability gradually decreased. However, for 0.15 g/l of growing cells (inoculum) 6 g/l of glucose was necessary to consume 8 g/l of malate. When the medium did not contain sugar no growth was observed despite the partial consumption of malate, showing that the acid was neither a carbon source nor an energy source. Offprint requests to: P. Strehaiano