An NADPH-independent mechanism enhances oxidative and nitrosative stress tolerance in yeast cells lacking glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity.

The reduced form of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH), which is required for various redox systems involving antioxidative stress enzymes, is thus important for stress tolerance mechanisms. Here, we analyzed the stress response of the NADPH-depleted cells of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. A cell viability assay showed that the NADPH depletion induced by disruption of the ZWF1 gene encoding glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, which is the major determinant of the intracellular NADPH/NADP⁺ ratio, enhanced the tolerance of S. cerevisiae to both oxidative and nitrosative stresses. The subsequent analyses demonstrated that the antioxidative transcriptional factor Yap1 was activated and the cytosolic catalase Ctt1, whose expression is regulated by Yap1, was upregulated in zwf1Δ cells irrespective of the presence or absence of stress stimuli. Moreover, deletion of the YAP1 or CTT1 gene inhibited the increased stress tolerance of zwf1Δ cells, indicating that Ctt1 dominantly contributed to the higher stress tolerance of zwf1Δ cells. Our findings suggest that an NADPH-independent mechanism enhances oxidative and nitrosative stress tolerance in ZWF1-lacking yeast cells.

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