The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has two isoforms of
NADP+-dependent glutamate dehydrogenase (Gdh1 and
Gdh3) that catalyze the synthesis of glutamate from α-ketoglutarate
and NH4
+. In the present study, we confirmed that
Gdh3, but not Gdh1, mainly contributes to the oxidative stress
resistance of stationary-phase cells and found evidence suggesting
that the insignificance of Gdh1 to stress resistance is
possibly resulted from conditional and reversible aggregation
of Gdh1 into punctuate foci initiated in parallel with postdiauxic
growth. Altered localization to the mitochondria or
peroxisomes prevented Gdh1, which was originally localized
in the cytoplasm, from stationary phase-specific aggregation,
suggesting that some cytosolic factors are involved in the
process of Gdh1 aggregation. Glucose starvation triggered
the transition of the soluble form of Gdh1 into the insoluble
aggregate form, which could be redissolved by replenishing
glucose, without any requirement for protein synthesis. Mutational
analysis showed that the N-terminal proximal region
of Gdh1 (NTP1, aa 21-26, TLFEQH) is essential for glucose
starvation-induced aggregation. We also found that the substitution
of NTP1 with the corresponding region of Gdh3
(NTP3) significantly increased the contribution of the mutant
Gdh1 to the stress resistance of stationary-phase cells. Thus,
this suggests that NTP1 is responsible for the negligible role
of Gdh1 in maintaining the oxidative stress resistance of stationary-
phase cells and the stationary phase-specific stresssensitive
phenotype of the mutants lacking Gdh3.