Sustained glycolytic oscillations--no need for cyanide.

Using fluorescence spectroscopy we detected long trains of macroscopic oscillations in the glycolytic pathway, in whole cell suspensions of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, without addition of cyanide. Such oscillations may be induced if argon or another inert gas is bubbled through the yeast cell suspension. This supports that the synchronizing agent is a volatile compound secreted by the yeast cells, e.g. CO2 and/or acetaldehyde. Our results show that the rate of acetaldehyde removal is not a crucial parameter to the synchronization of the yeast cells. The sample cell was connected to a membrane inlet mass spectrometer (MIMS) for online determination of extracellular non-polar compounds. Oscillations in the secretion of CO2 were detected using the MIMS.