Glutathione transport systems of the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae was shown to have two kinetically distinguishable glutathione transport Systems. While one with high affinity (GSH-P1; KT=0.045mM) was regulated, the other with low affinity (GSH-P2; KT2 mM) was not. GSH-P1 was highly specific to ghtathione, and its activity was quickly lost by suspending the cells in buffer solutions. This activity loss was not observed if glucose-containing buffer was used. In addition, p- isolates had only about one half of the glutathione transport activity of the original (p+) strain. Therefore, it is concluded that GSH-P1 is an ATP-driven transport system. Strong and moderate inhibition of GSH-P1 by protonophores and ionophores, respectively, are attributed to competition for ATP between GSH-P1 and proton- and cation-pumps, respectively