NADH Auto Fluorescence Reveals New Metabolic Signatures in Yeast and Mammalian Cells

Abstract

Yeast cells and their extracts were reported to show glycolytic fluctuations with a frequency of several minutes with addition of supplements. There is a distinct phase relation of NADH and other oscillating metabolites and intermediates which can be studied observing the auto fluorescence. New fast and efficient fluorescence lifetime techniques emerged in last two decades accelerated the progress of revealing the true nature of these fluctuations. We address these dynamic changes happening in live yeast systems by imaging them in-vivo time lapse lifetime imaging and correlate it with carbon metabolism reported in mammalian and cancer cells. The similarity between cancer cell metabolic flux and rapidly proliferating yeast cells have recently been of scientific interest to elucidate cancer cell pathways. Our findings shed new light into these metabolic responses with help of auto fluorescence lifetime measurements and live flux measurements. In addition, we aid these observations with the rigorous validation of auto fluorescence lifetime based metabolic studies.