In vivo NMR study of yeast fermentative metabolism in the presence of ferric irons

Mathematical modelling analysis of experimental data, obtained with in vivo NMR spectroscopy and 13C-labelled substrates, allowed us to describe how the fermentative metabolism in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, taken as eukaryotic cell model, is influenced by stress factors. Experiments on cellular cultures subject to increasing concentrations of ferric ions were conducted in order to study the effect of oxidative stress on the dynamics of the fermentative process. The developed mathematical model was able to simulate the cellular activity, the metabolic yield and the main metabolic fluxes occurring during fermentation and to describe how these are modulated by the presence of ferric ions.