Regulation of phospholipid synthesis in yeast by zinc

2005 ◽  
Vol 33 (5) ◽  
pp. 1150-1153 ◽  
Author(s):  
G.M. Carman

The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has the ability to cope with a variety of stress conditions (e.g. zinc deficiency) by regulating the expression of enzyme activities including those involved with phospholipid synthesis. Zinc is an essential mineral required for the growth and metabolism of S. cerevisiae. Depletion of zinc from the growth medium of wild-type cells results in alterations in phospholipid composition including an increase in PI (phosphatidylinositol) and a decrease in phosphatidylethanolamine. These changes can be attributed to an increase in PIS1-encoded PI synthase activity and a decrease in the activities of several CDP-diacylglycerol pathway enzymes including the CHO1-encoded PS (phosphatidylserine) synthase. The reduction in PS synthase in response to zinc depletion is due to a repression mechanism that involves the UASINO (inositol upstream activating sequence) element in the CHO1 promoter and the negative transcription factor Opi1p. These factors are also responsible for the inositol-mediated repression of CHO1. This regulation may play an important role in allowing cells to adapt to zinc deficiency given the essential roles that phospholipids play in the structure and function of cellular membranes.

1992 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 1879-1892 ◽  
Author(s):  
J L Davis ◽  
R Kunisawa ◽  
J Thorner

Exposure of a haploid yeast cell to mating pheromone induces transcription of a set of genes. Induction is mediated through a cis-acting DNA sequence found upstream of all pheromone-responsive genes. Although the STE12 gene product binds specifically to this sequence element and is required for maximum levels of both basal and induced transcription, not all pheromone-responsive genes are regulated in an identical manner. To investigate whether additional factors may play a role in transcription of these genes, a genetic screen was used to identify mutants able to express pheromone-responsive genes constitutively in the absence of Ste12. In this way, we identified a recessive, single gene mutation (mot1, for modifier of transcription) which increases the basal level of expression of several, but not all, pheromone-responsive genes. The mot1-1 allele also relaxes the requirement for at least one other class of upstream activating sequence and enhances the expression of another gene not previously thought to be involved in the mating pathway. Cells carrying mot1-1 grow slowly at 30 degrees C and are inviable at 38 degrees C. The MOT1 gene was cloned by complementation of this temperature-sensitive lethality. Construction of a null allele confirmed that MOT1 is an essential gene. MOT1 residues on chromosome XVI and encodes a large protein of 1,867 amino acids which contains all seven of the conserved domains found in known and putative helicases. The product of MOT1 is strikingly homologous to the Saccharomyces cerevisiae SNF2/SW12 and RAD54 gene products over the entire helicase region.


1971 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 490-502 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Jakovcic ◽  
G. S. Getz ◽  
M. Rabinowitz ◽  
H. Jakob ◽  
H. Swift

The phospholipid composition of various strains of the yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and several of their derived mitochondrial mutants grown under conditions designed to induce variations in the complement of mitochondrial membranes has been examined. Wild type and petite (cytoplasmic respiratory deficient) yeasts were fractionated into various subcellular fractions, which were monitored by electron microscopy and analyzed for cytochrome oxidase (in wild type) and phospholipid composition. 90% or more of the phospholipid, cardiolipin was found in the mitochondrial membranes of wild type and petite yeast. Cardiolipin content differed markedly under various growth conditions. Stationary yeast grown in glucose had better developed mitochondria and more cardiolipin than repressed log phase yeast. Aerobic yeast contained more cardiolipin than anaerobic yeast. Respiration-deficient cytoplasmic mitochondrial mutants, both suppressive and neutral, contained less cardiolipin than corresponding wild types. A chromosomal mutant lacking respiratory function had normal cardiolipin content. Log phase cells grown in galactose and lactate, which do not readily repress the development of mitochondrial membranes, contained as much cardiolipin as stationary phase cells grown in glucose. Cytoplasmic mitochondrial mutants respond to changes in the glucose concentration of the growth medium by variations in their cardiolipin content in the same way as wild type yeast does under similar growth conditions. It is concluded that cardiolipin content of yeast is correlated with, and is a good indicator of, the state of development of mitochondrial membrane.


1994 ◽  
Vol 5 (10) ◽  
pp. 1065-1080 ◽  
Author(s):  
D Ursic ◽  
J C Sedbrook ◽  
K L Himmel ◽  
M R Culbertson

Previously, we showed that the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae cold-sensitive mutation tcp1-1 confers growth arrest concomitant with cytoskeletal disorganization and disruption of microtubule-mediated processes. We have identified two new recessive mutations, tcp1-2 and tcp1-3, that confer heat- and cold-sensitive growth. Cells carrying tcp1 alleles were analyzed after exposure to the appropriate restrictive temperatures by cell viability tests, differential contrast microscopy, fluorescent, and immunofluorescent microscopy of DNA, tubulin, and actin and by determining the DNA content per cell. All three mutations conferred unique phenotypes indicative of cytoskeletal dysfunction. A causal relationship between loss of Tcp1p function and the development of cytoskeletal abnormalities was established by double mutant analyses. Novel phenotypes indicative of allele-specific genetic interactions were observed when tcp1-1 was combined in the same strain with tub1-1, tub2-402, act1-1, and act1-4, but not with other tubulin or actin mutations or with mutations in other genes affecting the cytoskeleton. Also, overproduction of wild-type Tcp1p partially suppressed growth defects conferred by act1-1 and act1-4. Furthermore, Tcp1p was localized to the cytoplasm and the cell cortex. Based on our results, we propose that Tcp1p is required for normal development and function of actin and microtubules either through direct or indirect interaction with the major cytoskeletal components.


1992 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 1879-1892
Author(s):  
J L Davis ◽  
R Kunisawa ◽  
J Thorner

Exposure of a haploid yeast cell to mating pheromone induces transcription of a set of genes. Induction is mediated through a cis-acting DNA sequence found upstream of all pheromone-responsive genes. Although the STE12 gene product binds specifically to this sequence element and is required for maximum levels of both basal and induced transcription, not all pheromone-responsive genes are regulated in an identical manner. To investigate whether additional factors may play a role in transcription of these genes, a genetic screen was used to identify mutants able to express pheromone-responsive genes constitutively in the absence of Ste12. In this way, we identified a recessive, single gene mutation (mot1, for modifier of transcription) which increases the basal level of expression of several, but not all, pheromone-responsive genes. The mot1-1 allele also relaxes the requirement for at least one other class of upstream activating sequence and enhances the expression of another gene not previously thought to be involved in the mating pathway. Cells carrying mot1-1 grow slowly at 30 degrees C and are inviable at 38 degrees C. The MOT1 gene was cloned by complementation of this temperature-sensitive lethality. Construction of a null allele confirmed that MOT1 is an essential gene. MOT1 residues on chromosome XVI and encodes a large protein of 1,867 amino acids which contains all seven of the conserved domains found in known and putative helicases. The product of MOT1 is strikingly homologous to the Saccharomyces cerevisiae SNF2/SW12 and RAD54 gene products over the entire helicase region.


2017 ◽  
Vol 199 (14) ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Bartoli ◽  
L. My ◽  
Lucid Belmudes ◽  
Yohann Couté ◽  
J. P. Viala ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT The phospholipid (PL) composition of bacterial membranes varies as a function of growth rate and in response to changes in the environment. While growth adaptation can be explained by biochemical feedback in the PL synthesis pathway, recent transcriptome studies have revealed that the expression of PL synthesis genes can also be tuned in response to various stresses. We previously showed that the BasRS two-component pathway controls the expression of the diacylglycerol kinase gene, dgkA, in Escherichia coli (A. Wahl, L. My, R. Dumoulin, J. N. Sturgis, and E. Bouveret, Mol Microbiol, 80:1260–1275, 2011, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2958.2011.07641.x ). In this study, we set up a strategy to identify the mutation responsible for the upregulation of pssA observed in the historical pssR1 mutant and supposedly corresponding to a transcriptional repressor (C. P. Sparrow and J. Raetz, J Biol Chem, 258:9963–9967, 1983). pssA encodes phosphatidylserine synthase, the first step of phosphatidylethanolamine synthesis. We showed that this mutation corresponded to a single nucleotide change in the anti-Shine-Dalgarno sequence of the 16S rRNA encoded by the rrnC operon. We further demonstrated that this mutation enhanced the translation of pssA. Though this effect appeared to be restricted to PssA among phospholipid synthesis enzymes, it was not specific, as evidenced by a global effect on the production of unrelated proteins. IMPORTANCE Bacteria adjust the phospholipid composition of their membranes to the changing environment. In addition to enzymatic regulation, stress response regulators control specific steps of the phospholipid synthesis pathway. We wanted to identify a potential regulator controlling the expression of the phosphatidylserine synthase gene. We showed that it was not the previously suggested hdfR gene and instead that a mutation in the anti-Shine-Dalgarno sequence of 16S RNA was responsible for an increase in pssA translation. This example underlines the fact that gene expression can be modulated by means other than specific regulatory processes.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 199-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chuanman Zhou ◽  
Jintao Luo ◽  
Xiaohui He ◽  
Qian Zhou ◽  
Yunxia He ◽  
...  

NALCN (Na+leak channel, non-selective) is a conserved, voltage-insensitive cation channel that regulates resting membrane potential and neuronal excitability. UNC79 and UNC80 are key regulators of the channel function. However, the behavioral effects of the channel complex are not entirely clear and the neurons in which the channel functions remain to be identified. In a forward genetic screen for C. elegans mutants with defective avoidance response to the plant hormone methyl salicylate (MeSa), we isolated multiple loss-of-function mutations in unc-80 and unc-79. C. elegans NALCN mutants exhibited similarly defective MeSa avoidance. Interestingly, NALCN, unc-80 and unc-79 mutants all showed wild type-like responses to other attractive or repelling odorants, suggesting that NALCN does not broadly affect odor detection or related forward and reversal behaviors. To understand in which neurons the channel functions, we determined the identities of a subset of unc-80-expressing neurons. We found that unc-79 and unc-80 are expressed and function in overlapping neurons, which verified previous assumptions. Neuron-specific transgene rescue and knockdown experiments suggest that the command interneurons AVA and AVE and the anterior guidepost neuron AVG can play a sufficient role in mediating unc-80 regulation of the MeSa avoidance. Though primarily based on genetic analyses, our results further imply that MeSa might activate NALCN by direct or indirect actions. Altogether, we provide an initial look into the key neurons in which the NALCN channel complex functions and identify a novel function of the channel in regulating C. elegans reversal behavior through command interneurons.


Genetics ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 123 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
E J Louis ◽  
J E Haber

Abstract The presence of the tRNA ochre suppressors SUP11 and SUP5 is found to induce meiosis I nondisjunction in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The induction increases with increasing dosage of the suppressor and decreases in the presence of an antisuppressor. The effect is independent of the chromosomal location of SUP11. Each of five different chromosomes monitored exhibited nondisjunction at frequencies of 0.1%-1.1% of random spores, which is a 16-160-fold increase over wild-type levels. Increased nondisjunction is reflected by a marked increase in tetrads with two and zero viable spores. In the case of chromosome III, for which a 50-cM map interval was monitored, the resulting disomes are all in the parental nonrecombinant configuration. Recombination along chromosome III appears normal both in meioses that have no nondisjunction and in meioses for which there was nondisjunction of another chromosome. We propose that a proportion of one or more proteins involved in chromosome pairing, recombination or segregation are aberrant due to translational read-through of the normal ochre stop codon. Hygromycin B, an antibiotic that can suppress nonsense mutations via translational read-through, also induces nonrecombinant meiosis I nondisjunction. Increases in mistranslation, therefore, increase the production of aneuploids during meiosis. There was no observable effect of SUP11 on mitotic chromosome nondisjunction; however some disomes caused SUP11 ade2-ochre strains to appear white or red, instead of pink.


Genetics ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 142 (3) ◽  
pp. 893-906 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Gustavson ◽  
Andrew S Goldsborough ◽  
Zehra Ali ◽  
Thomas B Kornberg

Abstract We isolated and characterized numerous engrailed and invected alleles. Among the deficiencies we isolated, a mutant lacking invected sequences was viable and phenotypically normal, a mutant lacking engrailed was an embryo lethal and had slight segmentation defects, and a mutant lacking both engrailed and invected was most severely affected. In seven engrailed alleles, mutations caused translation to terminate prematurely in the central or C-terminal portion of the coding sequence, resulting in embryonic lethality and segmentation defects. Both engrailed and invected expression declined prematurely in these mutant embryos. In wild-type embryos, engrailed and invected are juxtaposed and are expressed in essentially identical patterns. A breakpoint mutant that separates the mgrailed and invected transcription units parceled different aspects of the expression pattern to engrailed or invected. We also found that both genes cause similar defects when expressed ectopically and that the protein products of both genes act to repress transcription in cultured cells. We propose that the varied phenotypes of the engrailed alleles can be explained by the differential effects these mutants have on the combination of engrailed and invected activities, that engrailed and invected share a regulatory region, and that they encode redundant functions.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (16) ◽  
pp. 8398
Author(s):  
Yasmine S. Hezema ◽  
Mukund R. Shukla ◽  
Alok Goel ◽  
Murali M. Ayyanath ◽  
Sherif M. Sherif ◽  
...  

In grafted plants, the movement of long-distance signals from rootstocks can modulate the development and function of the scion. To understand the mechanisms by which tolerant rootstocks improve scion responses to osmotic stress (OS) conditions, mRNA transport of osmotic responsive genes (ORGs) was evaluated in a tomato/potato heterograft system. In this system, Solanum tuberosum was used as a rootstock and Solanum lycopersicum as a scion. We detected changes in the gene expression levels of 13 out of the 21 ORGs tested in the osmotically stressed plants; of these, only NPR1 transcripts were transported across the graft union under both normal and OS conditions. Importantly, OS increased the abundance of StNPR1 transcripts in the tomato scion. To examine mRNA mobility in transgrafted plants, StNPR1 and StDREB1 genes representing the mobile and non-mobile transcripts, respectively, were overexpressed in tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum). The evaluation of transgenic tobacco plants indicated that overexpression of these genes enhanced the growth and improved the physiological status of transgenic plants growing under OS conditions induced by NaCl, mannitol and polyethylene glycol (PEG). We also found that transgenic tobacco rootstocks increased the OS tolerance of the WT-scion. Indeed, WT scions on transgenic rootstocks had higher ORGs transcript levels than their counterparts on non-transgenic rootstocks. However, neither StNPR1 nor StDREB1 transcripts were transported from the transgenic rootstock to the wild-type (WT) tobacco scion, suggesting that other long-distance signals downstream these transgenes could have moved across the graft union leading to OS tolerance. Overall, our results signify the importance of StNPR1 and StDREB1 as two anticipated candidates for the development of stress-resilient crops through transgrafting technology.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine M Ranard ◽  
Matthew J Kuchan ◽  
John W Erdman

ABSTRACT Studying vitamin E [α-tocopherol (α-T)] metabolism and function in the brain and other tissues requires an animal model with low α-T status, such as the transgenic α-T transfer protein (Ttpa)–null (Ttpa−/−) mouse model. Ttpa+/− dams can be used to produce Ttpa−/− and Ttpa+/+mice for these studies. However, the α-T content in Ttpa+/− dams’ diet requires optimization; diets must provide sufficient α-T for reproduction, while minimizing the transfer of α-T to the offspring destined for future studies that require low baseline α-T status. The goal of this work was to assess the effectiveness and feasibility of 2 breeding diet strategies on reproduction outcomes and offspring brain α-T concentrations. These findings will help standardize the breeding methodology used to generate the Ttpa−/− mice for neurological studies.


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