Respiratory oscillations in adapting yeast cultures.

Oscillation in intermediary metabolism have become well recognized as perturbation-induced transients or, more rarely, as sustained events in cells and subcellular systems1–7. These oscillatory phenomena have served as indicators of complex biochemical regulatory mechanisms as well as potential models for the metabolic basis of physiological rhythms. The recognition of feedback control and allosteric enzyme regulation has helped to elucidate the molecular mechanisms involved in some of these phenomena, the most clearly understood system being the high-frequency (approximately 2 min−1) glycolytically-associated oscillations1,5 in the yeast Saccharomyces carlsbergensis.