Glucose uptake in Kluyveromyces lactis: Role of the HGT1 gene in glucose transport

A gene for high-affinity glucose transport, HGT1, has been isolated from the lactose-assimilating yeast Kluyveromyces lactis. Disruption strains showed much-reduced uptake of glucose at low concentrations and growth was particularly affected in low-glucose medium. The HGT1 nucleotide sequence implies that it encodes a typical transmembrane protein with 12 hydrophobic domains and with 26 to 31% amino acid identity with the Hxtp family of glucose transport elements in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Expression is constitutive (in contrast to RAG1, the major gene for low-affinity glucose uptake in K. lactis) and is controlled by several genes also known to affect expression of RAG1. These include RAG5 (which codes for the single hexokinase of K. lactis), which is required for HGT1 transcription, and RAG4, which has a negative effect, The double mutant Delta hgt1/Delta rag1 showed further reduced glucose uptake but still grew quite well on 2% glucose and was not completely impaired even on 0.1% glucose.