Abstract
A general hypothesis is presented for the decline in the rate of ethanol production (per unit of cell protein) during batch fermentation. Inhibition of ethanol production is proposed to result from the intracellular accumulation of AMP during the transition from growth to the stationary phase. AMP acts as a competitive inhibitor of hexokinase with respect to ATP. When assayed in vitro in the presence of ATP and AMP concentrations equivalent to those within cells at different stages of fermentation, hexokinase activity declined in parallel with the in vivo decline in the rate of ethanol production. The coupling of glycolytic flux and fermentation to cell growth via degradation products of RNA may be of evolutionary advantage for Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Such a coupling would reduce the exposure of nongrowing cells to potentially harmful concentrations of waste products from metabolism and would conserve nutrients for future growth under more favorable conditions.
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