Citrate inhibition of phosphofructokinase and the Pasteur effect

Abstract

A large amount of recent evidence clearly indicates that the regulation of phosphofructokinase (PFK) activity is fundamental in the control of glycolysis (Lowry and Passonneau, 1964) through a series of feedback mechanisms (Sols et., 1963). Endproduct inhibition of PFK by ATP (ViRuela et. , 1963) may account for the Pasteur effect in certain tissues (Wu, 1964) . Nevertheless, it has been reported that in glucose utilizing yeast, where both the Pasteur effect and an involvement of PFK in it were first observ - ed, the level of ATP is essentially the same in aerobiosis and an- aerobiosis (1-ynen et. , 1959) . Evidence reported here indicates that an additional feedback inhibition involving citrate may account for the aerobic regulation of PFK activity in yeast.