scholarly journals MMM1 encodes a mitochondrial outer membrane protein essential for establishing and maintaining the structure of yeast mitochondria.

1994 ◽  
Vol 126 (6) ◽  
pp. 1375-1391 ◽  
Author(s):  
S M Burgess ◽  
M Delannoy ◽  
R E Jensen

In the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, mitochondria are elongated organelles which form a reticulum around the cell periphery. To determine the mechanism by which mitochondrial shape is established and maintained, we screened yeast mutants for those defective in mitochondrial morphology. One of these mutants, mmm1, is temperature-sensitive for the external shape of its mitochondria. At the restrictive temperature, elongated mitochondria appear to quickly collapse into large, spherical organelles. Upon return to the permissive temperature, wild-type mitochondrial structure is restored. The morphology of other cellular organelles is not affected in mmm1 mutants, and mmm1 does not disrupt normal actin or tubulin organization. Cells disrupted in the MMM1 gene are inviable when grown on nonfermentable carbon sources and show abnormal mitochondrial morphology at all temperatures. The lethality of mmm1 mutants appears to result from the inability to segregate the aberrant-shaped mitochondria into daughter cells. Mitochondrial structure is therefore important for normal cell function. Mmm1p is located in the mitochondrial outer membrane, with a large carboxyl-terminal domain facing the cytosol. We propose that Mmm1p maintains mitochondria in an elongated shape by attaching the mitochondrion to an external framework, such as the cytoskeleton.

2001 ◽  
Vol 152 (2) ◽  
pp. 401-410 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alyson E. Aiken Hobbs ◽  
Maithreyan Srinivasan ◽  
J. Michael McCaffery ◽  
Robert E. Jensen

In the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, mitochondria form a branched, tubular reticulum in the periphery of the cell. Mmm1p is required to maintain normal mitochondrial shape and in mmm1 mutants mitochondria form large, spherical organelles. To further explore Mmm1p function, we examined the localization of a Mmm1p–green fluorescent protein (GFP) fusion in living cells. We found that Mmm1p-GFP is located in small, punctate structures on the mitochondrial outer membrane, adjacent to a subset of matrix-localized mitochondrial DNA nucleoids. We also found that the temperature-sensitive mmm1-1 mutant was defective in transmission of mitochondrial DNA to daughter cells immediately after the shift to restrictive temperature. Normal mitochondrial nucleoid structure also collapsed at the nonpermissive temperature with similar kinetics. Moreover, we found that mitochondrial inner membrane structure is dramatically disorganized in mmm1 disruption strains. We propose that Mmm1p is part of a connection between the mitochondrial outer and inner membranes, anchoring mitochondrial DNA nucleoids in the matrix.


2000 ◽  
Vol 151 (2) ◽  
pp. 341-352 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edith D. Wong ◽  
Jennifer A. Wagner ◽  
Steven W. Gorsich ◽  
J. Michael McCaffery ◽  
Janet M. Shaw ◽  
...  

Mutations in the dynamin-related GTPase, Mgm1p, have been shown to cause mitochondrial aggregation and mitochondrial DNA loss in Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells, but Mgm1p's exact role in mitochondrial maintenance is unclear. To study the primary function of MGM1, we characterized new temperature sensitive MGM1 alleles. Examination of mitochondrial morphology in mgm1 cells indicates that fragmentation of mitochondrial reticuli is the primary phenotype associated with loss of MGM1 function, with secondary aggregation of mitochondrial fragments. This mgm1 phenotype is identical to that observed in cells with a conditional mutation in FZO1, which encodes a transmembrane GTPase required for mitochondrial fusion, raising the possibility that Mgm1p is also required for fusion. Consistent with this idea, mitochondrial fusion is blocked in mgm1 cells during mating, and deletion of DNM1, which encodes a dynamin-related GTPase required for mitochondrial fission, blocks mitochondrial fragmentation in mgm1 cells. However, in contrast to fzo1 cells, deletion of DNM1 in mgm1 cells restores mitochondrial fusion during mating. This last observation indicates that despite the phenotypic similarities observed between mgm1 and fzo1 cells, MGM1 does not play a direct role in mitochondrial fusion. Although Mgm1p was recently reported to localize to the mitochondrial outer membrane, our studies indicate that Mgm1p is localized to the mitochondrial intermembrane space. Based on our localization data and Mgm1p's structural homology to dynamin, we postulate that it functions in inner membrane remodeling events. In this context, the observed mgm1 phenotypes suggest that inner and outer membrane fission is coupled and that loss of MGM1 function may stimulate Dnm1p-dependent outer membrane fission, resulting in the formation of mitochondrial fragments that are structurally incompetent for fusion.


1995 ◽  
Vol 6 (10) ◽  
pp. 1381-1396 ◽  
Author(s):  
M G Smith ◽  
V R Simon ◽  
H O'Sullivan ◽  
L A Pon

During early stages of meiosis I, yeast mitochondria fuse to form a single continuous thread. Thereafter, portions of the mitochondrial thread are equally distributed to daughter cells. Using time-lapse fluorescence microscopy and a membrane potential sensing dye, mitochondria are resolved as small particles at the cell periphery in pre-meiotic, living yeast. These organelles display low levels of movement. During meiosis I, we observed a threefold increase in mitochondrial motility. Mitochondrial movements were linear, occurred at a maximum velocity of 25 +/- 6.7 nm/s, and resulted in organelle collision and fusion to form elongated tubular structures. Mitochondria do not co-localize with microtubules. Destabilization of microtubules by nocodazole treatment has no significant effect on the rate and extent of thread formation. In contrast, yeast bearing temperature-sensitive mutations in the actin-encoding ACT1 gene (act1-3 and act1-133) exhibit abnormal mitochondrial aggregation, fragmentation, and enlargement as well as loss of mitochondrial motility. In act1-3 cells, mitochondrial defects and actin delocalization occur only at restrictive temperatures. The act1-133 mutation, which perturbs the myosin-binding site of actin without significantly affecting actin cytoskeletal structure in meiotic yeast, results in mitochondrial morphology and motility defects at restrictive and permissive temperatures. These studies support a role for the actin cytoskeleton in the control of mitochondrial position and movements in meiotic yeast.


1997 ◽  
Vol 136 (3) ◽  
pp. 545-553 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen H. Berger ◽  
L. Farah Sogo ◽  
Michael P. Yaffe

Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells lacking the MDM12 gene product display temperature-sensitive growth and possess abnormally large, round mitochondria that are defective for inheritance by daughter buds. Analysis of the wild-type MDM12 gene revealed its product to be a 31-kD polypeptide that is homologous to a protein of the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. When expressed in S. cerevisiae, the S. pombe Mdm12p homolog conferred a dominant-negative phenotype of giant mitochondria and aberrant mitochondrial distribution, suggesting partial functional conservation of Mdm12p activity between budding and fission yeast. The S. cerevisiae Mdm12p was localized by indirect immunofluorescence microscopy and by subcellular fractionation and immunodetection to the mitochondrial outer membrane and displayed biochemical properties of an integral membrane protein. Mdm12p is the third mitochondrial outer membrane protein required for normal mitochondrial morphology and distribution to be identified in S. cerevisiae and the first such mitochondrial component that is conserved between two different species.


1999 ◽  
Vol 181 (5) ◽  
pp. 1388-1394 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tohru Minamino ◽  
Robert M. Macnab

ABSTRACT Until now, identification of components of the flagellar protein export apparatus has been indirect. We have now identified these components directly by establishing whether mutants defective in putative export components could translocate export substrates across the cytoplasmic membrane into the periplasmic space. Hook-type proteins could be exported to the periplasm of rod mutants, indicating that rod protein export does not have to precede hook-type protein export and therefore that both types of proteins belong to a single export class, the rod/hook-type class, which is distinct from the filament-type class. Hook-capping protein (FlgD) and hook protein (FlgE) required FlhA, FlhB, FliH, FliI, FliO, FliP, FliQ, and FliR for their export to the periplasm. In the case of flagellin as an export substrate, because of the phenomenon of hook-to-filament switching of export specificity, it was necessary to use temperature-sensitive mutants and establish whether flagellin could be exported to the cell exterior following a shift from the permissive to the restrictive temperature. Again, FlhA, FlhB, FliH, FliI, and FliO were required for its export. No suitable temperature-sensitive fliQ or fliR mutants were available. FliP appeared not to be required for flagellin export, but we suspect that the temperature-sensitive FliP protein continued to function at the restrictive temperature if incorporated at the permissive temperature. Thus, we conclude that these eight proteins are general components of the flagellar export pathway. FliJ was necessary for export of hook-type proteins (FlgD and FlgE); we were unable to test whether FliJ is needed for export of filament-type proteins. We suspect that FliJ may be a cytoplasmic chaperone for the hook-type proteins and possibly also for FliE and the rod proteins. FlgJ was not required for the export of the hook-type proteins; again, because of lack of a suitable temperature-sensitive mutant, we were unable to test whether it was required for export of filament-type proteins. Finally, it was established that there is an interaction between the processes of outer ring assembly and of penetration of the outer membrane by the rod and nascent hook, the latter process being of course necessary for passage of export substrates into the external medium. During the brief transition stage from completion of rod assembly and initiation of hook assembly, the L ring and perhaps the capping protein FlgD can be regarded as bona fide export components, with the L ring being in a formal sense the equivalent of the outer membrane secretin structure of type III virulence factor export systems.


Genetics ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 154 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-71
Author(s):  
Sigal Ben-Yehuda ◽  
Caroline S Russell ◽  
Ian Dix ◽  
Jean D Beggs ◽  
Martin Kupiec

Abstract Biochemical and genetic experiments have shown that the PRP17 gene of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae encodes a protein that plays a role during the second catalytic step of the splicing reaction. It was found recently that PRP17 is identical to the cell division cycle CDC40 gene. cdc40 mutants arrest at the restrictive temperature after the completion of DNA replication. Although the PRP17/CDC40 gene product is essential only at elevated temperatures, splicing intermediates accumulate in prp17 mutants even at the permissive temperature. In this report we describe extensive genetic interactions between PRP17/CDC40 and the PRP8 gene. PRP8 encodes a highly conserved U5 snRNP protein required for spliceosome assembly and for both catalytic steps of the splicing reaction. We show that mutations in the PRP8 gene are able to suppress the temperature-sensitive growth phenotype and the splicing defect conferred by the absence of the Prp17 protein. In addition, these mutations are capable of suppressing certain alterations in the conserved PyAG trinucleotide at the 3′ splice junction, as detected by an ACT1-CUP1 splicing reporter system. Moreover, other PRP8 alleles exhibit synthetic lethality with the absence of Prp17p and show a reduced ability to splice an intron bearing an altered 3′ splice junction. On the basis of these findings, we propose a model for the mode of interaction between the Prp8 and Prp17 proteins during the second catalytic step of the splicing reaction.


1999 ◽  
Vol 144 (4) ◽  
pp. 711-720 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelly A. Shepard ◽  
Michael P. Yaffe

The mdm17 mutation causes temperature-dependent defects in mitochondrial inheritance, mitochondrial morphology, and the maintenance of mitochondrial DNA in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Defects in mitochondrial transmission to daughter buds and changes in mitochondrial morphology were apparent within 30 min after shifting cells to 37°C, while loss of the mitochondrial genome occurred after 4–24 h at the elevated temperature. The mdm17 lesion mapped to MGM1, a gene encoding a dynamin-like GTPase previously implicated in mitochondrial genome maintenance, and the cloned MGM1 gene complements all of the mdm17 mutant phenotypes. Cells with an mgm1-null mutation displayed aberrant mitochondrial inheritance and morphology. A version of mgm1 mutated in a conserved residue in the putative GTP-binding site was unable to complement any of the mutant defects. It also caused aberrant mitochondrial distribution and morphology when expressed at high levels in cells that also contained a wild-type copy of the gene. Mgm1p was localized to the mitochondrial outer membrane and fractionated as a component of a high molecular weight complex. These results indicate that Mgm1p is a mitochondrial inheritance and morphology component that functions on the mitochondrial surface.


2000 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 2961-2971 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holger Prokisch ◽  
Walter Neupert ◽  
Benedikt Westermann

Mmm1p is a protein required for maintenance of mitochondrial morphology in budding yeast. It was proposed that it is required to mediate the interaction of the mitochondrial outer membrane with the actin cytoskeleton. We report the cloning and characterization of MMM1 of the filamentous fungus Neurospora crassa, an organism that uses microtubules for mitochondrial transport. Mutation of themmm-1 gene leads to a temperature-sensitive slow growth phenotype and female sterility. Mutant cells harbor abnormal giant mitochondria at all stages of the asexual life cycle, whereas actin filament-depolymerizing drugs have no effect on mitochondrial morphology. The MMM1 protein has a single transmembrane domain near the N terminus and exposes a large C-terminal domain to the cytosol. The protein can be imported into the outer membrane in a receptor-dependent manner. Our findings suggest that MMM1 is a factor of general importance for mitochondrial morphology independent of the cytoskeletal system used for mitochondrial transport.


1986 ◽  
Vol 6 (12) ◽  
pp. 4594-4601
Author(s):  
J J Dermody ◽  
B E Wojcik ◽  
H Du ◽  
H L Ozer

We described a strategy which facilitates the identification of cell mutants which are restricted in DNA synthesis in a temperature-dependent manner. A collection of over 200 cell mutants temperature-sensitive for growth was isolated in established Chinese hamster cell lines (CHO and V79) by a variety of selective and nonselective techniques. Approximately 10% of these mutants were identified as ts DNA- based on differential inhibition of macromolecular synthesis at the restrictive temperature (39 degrees C) as assessed by incorporation of [3H]thymidine and [35S]methionine. Nine such mutants, selected for further study, demonstrated rapid shutoff of DNA replication at 39 degrees C. Infections with two classes of DNA viruses extensively dependent on host-cell functions for their replication were used to distinguish defects in DNA synthesis itself from those predominantly affecting other aspects of DNA replication. All cell mutants supported human adenovirus type 2 (Ad2) and mouse polyomavirus DNA synthesis at the permissive temperature. Five of the nine mutants (JB3-B, JB3-O, JB7-K, JB8-D, and JB11-J) restricted polyomavirus DNA replication upon transfection with viral sequences at 33 degrees C and subsequent shift to 39 degrees C either before or after the onset of viral DNA synthesis. Only one of these mutants (JB3-B) also restricted Ad2 DNA synthesis after virion infection under comparable conditions. No mutant was both restrictive for Ad2 and permissive for polyomavirus DNA synthesis at 39 degrees C. The differential effect of these cell mutants on viral DNA synthesis is expected to assist subsequent definition of the biochemical defect responsible.


1994 ◽  
Vol 14 (9) ◽  
pp. 6350-6360
Author(s):  
F Houman ◽  
C Holm

To investigate chromosome segregation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, we examined a collection of temperature-sensitive mutants that arrest as large-budded cells at restrictive temperatures (L. H. Johnston and A. P. Thomas, Mol. Gen. Genet. 186:439-444, 1982). We characterized dbf8, a mutation that causes cells to arrest with a 2c DNA content and a short spindle. DBF8 maps to chromosome IX near the centromere, and it encodes a 36-kDa protein that is essential for viability at all temperatures. Mutational analysis reveals that three dbf8 alleles are nonsense mutations affecting the carboxy-terminal third of the encoded protein. Since all of these mutations confer temperature sensitivity, it appears that the carboxyl-terminal third of the protein is essential only at a restrictive temperature. In support of this conclusion, an insertion of URA3 at the same position also confers a temperature-sensitive phenotype. Although they show no evidence of DNA damage, dbf8 mutants exhibit increased rates of chromosome loss and nondisjunction even at a permissive temperature. Taken together, our data suggest that Dbf8p plays an essential role in chromosome segregation.


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