Role of glutathione S-transferases and glutathione in arsenic and peroxide resistance in Saccharomyces cerevisiae:: A reverse genetic analyses approach

Glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) define an enzyme family of multifunctional proteins with important roles in cellular detoxification of exogenous and endogenous compounds. The availability of the complete genome sequence and of disruption mutants for all genes/ORFs of Saccharomyces cerevisiae facilitates genome-wide experimental approaches for the detailed understanding of eukaryotic detoxification pathways. In this work, the role of glutathione metabolism and in particular the specific requirement for GSTs for adaptation to oxidative and arsenic stresses in S. cerevisiae was evaluated by screening of a wide selection of gene specific disruption mutants from the EUROSCARF collection.