Schizosaccharomyces pombe cells take up D-gluconate, as an alternative carbon source for growth, during glucose starvation or when cultured on glycerol-containing medium. Gluconate uptake is not detectable while cells are growing logarithmically on glucose. The addition of D-glucose as well as its non-metabolizable analogues to glycerol-grown cells causes an immediate loss of gluconate transport within 1 min. The reversible down-regulation of the gluconate carrier occurs after glucose has been internalized. This regulation is triggered not only by D-glucose but also by extracellular cAMP even in the absence of the cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA1).