Methylglyoxal-Scavenging Enzyme Activities Trigger Erythroascorbate Peroxidase and Cytochrome c Peroxidase in Glutathione-Depleted Candida albicans. γ-Glutamylcysteine synthetase (Gcs1) and glutathione reductase (Glr1) activity maintains minimal levels of cellular methylglyoxal in Candida albicans.  In glutathione-depleted Δgcs1, we previously saw that NAD(H)-linked methylglyoxal oxidoreductase (Mgd1) and alcohol dehydrogenase (Adh1) are the most active methylglyoxal scavengers.  With methylglyoxal accumulation, disruptants lacking MGD1 or ADH1 exhibit a poor redox state.  However, there is little convincing evidence for a reciprocal relationship between methylglyoxal scavenger genes-disrupted mutants and changes in glutathione-(in)dependent redox regulation.  Herein, we attempt to demonstrate a functional role for methylglyoxal scavengers, modeled on a triple disruptant (Δmgd1/Δadh1/Δgcs1), to link between antioxidative enzyme activities and their metabolites in glutathione-depleted conditions.  Despite seeing elevated methylglyoxal in all of the disruptants, the result saw a decrease in pyruvate content in Δmgd1/Δadh1/Δgcs1 which was not observed in double gene-disrupted strains such as Δmgd1/Δgcs1 and Δadh1/Δgcs1.  Interestingly, Δmgd1/Δadh1/Δgcs1 exhibited a significantly decrease in H2O2 and superoxide which was also unobserved in Δmgd1/Δgcs1 and Δadh1/Δgcs1.  The activities of the antioxidative enzymes erythroascorbate peroxidase and cytochrome c peroxidase were noticeably higher in Δmgd1/Δadh1/Δgcs1 than in the other disruptants.  Meanwhile, Glr1 activity severely diminished in Δmgd1/Δadh1/Δgcs1.  Monitoring complementary gene transcripts between double gene-disrupted Δmgd1/Δgcs1 and Δadh1/Δgcs1 supported the concept of an unbalanced redox state independent of the Glr1 activity for Δmgd1/Δadh1/Δgcs1.  Our data demonstrate the reciprocal use of Eapx1 and Ccp1 in the absence of both methylglyoxal scavengers; that being pivotal for viability in non-filamentous budding yeast.
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