Sugar-induced cell death in exponentially growing yeast depends on the functionality of the nonoxidative branch of the pentose phosphate pathway.

In exponentially growing Saccharomyces cerevisiae, adding 5 mM ribose-5-phosphate suppresses sugar-induced cell death by 79%, implicating the non-oxidative PPP-R5P output.

• Why it matters: SICD is linked to how glucose flux is routed between glycolysis and the pentose phosphate pathway, but which PPP branch and downstream product matter remained unclear.
• What they did: Cells treated with iodoacetamide were tested with deletions of ZWF1, GLR1, and attenuation of TRR1, and with 5 mM R5P or 5 mM ribose plus 5 mM Pi added to the medium.
• The result: R5P reduced SICD by 79% (and by 83% in the pho3 strain), while ribose plus Pi reduced it by only 20%, excluding extracellular dephosphorylation and endocytosis and pointing to the non-oxidative PPP-R5P product.

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