The critical glucose concentration for respiration-independent proliferation of fission yeast, Schizosaccharomyces pombe

Glucose is the fundamental energy source for life; thus cells need to respond appropriately to changes in available glucose concentration. We investigated the relationship between media glucose concentration and respiration-dependency of proliferation, using Schizosaccharomyces pombe. In media containing ≥ 0.2% glucose, neither antimycin A, an inhibitor of Complex III, nor gene deletions of essential electron transfer chain components, impaired cell division, while these factors completely inhibited cell division in media containing ≤ 0.1% glucose. These results indicate the existence of a threshold in glucose concentration that governs respiration-dependency of S. pombe proliferation.