Absolute Glutathione Requirement for Sporulation of a Yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The glutathione (GSH)-deficient yeast cells of Saccharomyces cerevisiae completely failed to sporulate in nutrition-deprived medium containing potassium acetate (SPO medium). The sporulation defect of the yeast was restored only when the yeast cells were incubated in SPO medium in the presence of GSH or its derivative such as oxidized GSH and γ-L-glutamyl-L-cysteine. It was concluded that GSH was indispensably required to enter into meiosis and/or sporulation processes of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.