The essential and ancillary role of glutathione in Saccharomyces cerevisiae analysed using a grande gsh1 disruptant strain

A grande gsh1 disruptant mutant of Saccharomyces cerevisiae was generated by crossing a petite disruptant to a wild-type grande strain. This strain was relatively stable, but generated petites at an elevated frequency, illustrating the ancillary role of glutathione (GSH) in the maintenance of the genetic integrity of the mitochondrial genome. The availability of the grande gsh1 deletant enabled an evaluation of the role of GSH in the cellular response to hydrogen peroxide independent of the effects of a petite mutation. The mutant strain was more sensitive to hydrogen peroxide than the wild-type strain but was still capable of producing an adaptive stress response to this compound. GSH was found to be essential for growth and sporulation of the yeast, but the intracellular level needed to support growth was at least two orders of magnitude less than that normally present in wild-type cells. This surprising result indicates that there is an essential role for GSH but only very low amounts are needed for growth. This result was also found in anaerobic conditions, thus this essential function does not involve protection from oxidative stress. Suppressors of the gsh1 deletion mutation were isolated by ethylmethanesulfonate mutagenesis. These were the result of a single recessive mutation (sgr1, suppressor for glutathione requirement) that relieved the requirement for GSH for growth on minimal medium but did not affect the sensitivity to H(2)O(2) stress. Interestingly, the gsh1 sgr1 mutant generated petites at a lower rate than the gsh1 mutant. Thus, it is suggested that the essential role of GSH is involved in the maintenance of the mitochondrial genome.