Abstract
Activity of a pentulose (xylulose 5-phosphate) phosphoketolase was detected in 20 out of 25 yeasts examined. No significant activity was detected in any yeast grown with glucose, and the enzyme was induced by up to 70-fold when the yeasts were grown on xylose as sole carbon source. Biomass yields from xylose were greater than, or approximately equal to, those from glucose in 15 of the 19 yeasts which possessed phosphoketolase activity. The molar yield of C2 units from xylose, by metabolism via the pentose phosphate pathway, can be calculated to be insufficient to account for the high yields of biomass and ethanol obtained from xylose. We have shown that the presence of a phosphoketolase system can account for such yields by producing 2 mol C2 from 1 mol C5. This pathway must therefore be regarded as a major route of pentose dissimilation in such yeasts.
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Evans, C.T., Ratledge, C. Induction of xylulose-5-phosphate phosphoketolase in a variety of yeasts grown ond-xylose: the key to efficient xylose metabolism. Arch. Microbiol. 139, 48–52 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00692711
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00692711