scholarly journals Probing the Molecular Environment of Membrane Proteins In Vivo

1999 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 2519-2530 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Wittke ◽  
Nicole Lewke ◽  
Silke Müller ◽  
Nils Johnsson

The split-Ubiquitin (split-Ub) technique was used to map the molecular environment of a membrane protein in vivo. Cub, the C-terminal half of Ub, was attached to Sec63p, and Nub, the N-terminal half of Ub, was attached to a selection of differently localized proteins of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The efficiency of the Nub and Cub reassembly to the quasi-native Ub reflects the proximity between Sec63-Cub and the Nub-labeled proteins. By using a modified Ura3p as the reporter that is released from Cub, the local concentration between Sec63-Cub-RUra3p and the different Nub-constructs could be translated into the growth rate of yeast cells on media lacking uracil. We show that Sec63p interacts with Sec62p and Sec61p in vivo. Ssh1p is more distant to Sec63p than its close sequence homologue Sec61p. Employing Nub- and Cub-labeled versions of Ste14p, an enzyme of the protein isoprenylation pathway, we conclude that Ste14p is a membrane protein of the ER. Using Sec63p as a reference, a gradient of local concentrations of different t- and v-SNARES could be visualized in the living cell. The RUra3p reporter should further allow the selection of new binding partners of Sec63p and the selection of molecules or cellular conditions that interfere with the binding between Sec63p and one of its known partners.

2001 ◽  
Vol 114 (24) ◽  
pp. 4629-4635
Author(s):  
Michel J. Massaad ◽  
Annette Herscovics

The α1,2-mannosidase Mns1p involved in the N-glycosidic pathway in Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a type II membrane protein of the endoplasmic reticulum. The localization of Mns1p depends on retrieval from the Golgi through a mechanism that involves Rer1p. A chimera consisting of the transmembrane domain of Mns1p fused to the catalytic domain of the Golgi α1,2-mannosyltransferase Kre2p was localized in the endoplasmic reticulum of Δpep4 cells and in the vacuoles of rer1/Δpep4 by indirect immunofluorescence. The split-ubiquitin system was used to determine if there is an interaction between Mns1p and Rer1p in vivo. Co-expression of NubG-Mns1p and Rer1p-Cub-protein A-lexA-VP16 in L40 yeast cells resulted in cleavage of the reporter molecule, protein A-lexA-VP16, detected by western blot analysis and by expression of β-galactosidase activity. Sec12p, another endoplasmic reticulum protein that depends on Rer1p for its localization, also interacted with Rer1p using the split-ubiquitin assay, whereas the endoplasmic reticulum protein Ost1p showed no interaction. A weak interaction was observed between Alg5p and Rer1p. These results demonstrate that the transmembrane domain of Mns1p is sufficient for Rer1p-dependent endoplasmic reticulum localization and that Mns1p and Rer1p interact. Furthermore, the split-ubiquitin system demonstrates that the C-terminal of Rer1p is in the cytosol.


1987 ◽  
Vol 7 (10) ◽  
pp. 3799-3805
Author(s):  
P J Schatz ◽  
G E Georges ◽  
F Solomon ◽  
D Botstein

Microtubules in yeasts are essential components of the mitotic and meiotic spindle and are necessary for nuclear movement during cell division and mating. The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has two alpha-tubulin genes, TUB1 and TUB3, either of which alone is sufficient for these processes when present in a high enough copy number. Comparisons of sequences from several species reveals the presence of a variable region near the amino terminus of alpha-tubulin proteins. We perturbed the structure of this region in TUB3 by inserting into it 3, 9, or 17 amino acids and tested the ability of these altered proteins to function as the only alpha-tubulin protein in yeast cells. We found that each of these altered proteins was sufficient on its own for mitotic growth, mating, and methods of yeast. We conclude that this region can tolerate considerable variation without losing any of the highly conserved functions of alpha-tubulin. Our results suggest that variability in this region occurs because it can be tolerated, not because it specifies an important function for the protein.


1990 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 5679-5687
Author(s):  
C K Barlowe ◽  
D R Appling

In eucaryotes, 10-formyltetrahydrofolate (formyl-THF) synthetase, 5,10-methenyl-THF cyclohydrolase, and NADP(+)-dependent 5,10-methylene-THF dehydrogenase activities are present on a single polypeptide termed C1-THF synthase. This trifunctional enzyme, encoded by the ADE3 gene in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, is thought to be responsible for the synthesis of the one-carbon donor 10-formyl-THF for de novo purine synthesis. Deletion of the ADE3 gene causes adenine auxotrophy, presumably as a result of the lack of cytoplasmic 10-formyl-THF. In this report, defined point mutations that affected one or more of the catalytic activities of yeast C1-THF synthase were generated in vitro and transferred to the chromosomal ADE3 locus by gene replacement. In contrast to ADE3 deletions, point mutations that inactivated all three activities of C1-THF synthase did not result in an adenine requirement. Heterologous expression of the Clostridium acidiurici gene encoding a monofunctional 10-formyl-THF synthetase in an ade3 deletion strain did not restore growth in the absence of adenine, even though the monofunctional synthetase was catalytically competent in vivo. These results indicate that adequate cytoplasmic 10-formyl-THF can be produced by an enzyme(s) other than C1-THF synthase, but efficient utilization of that 10-formyl-THF for purine synthesis requires a nonenzymatic function of C1-THF synthase. A monofunctional 5,10-methylene-THF dehydrogenase, dependent on NAD+ for catalysis, has been identified and purified from yeast cells (C. K. Barlowe and D. R. Appling, Biochemistry 29:7089-7094, 1990). We propose that the characteristics of strains expressing full-length but catalytically inactive C1-THF synthase could result from the formation of a purine-synthesizing multienzyme complex involving the structurally unchanged C1-THF synthase and that production of the necessary one-carbon units in these strains is accomplished by an NAD+ -dependent 5,10-methylene-THF dehydrogenase.


1992 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 4215-4229
Author(s):  
S Heidmann ◽  
B Obermaier ◽  
K Vogel ◽  
H Domdey

In contrast to higher eukaryotes, little is known about the nature of the sequences which direct 3'-end formation of pre-mRNAs in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The hexanucleotide AAUAAA, which is highly conserved and crucial in mammals, does not seem to have any functional importance for 3'-end formation in yeast cells. Instead, other elements have been proposed to serve as signal sequences. We performed a detailed investigation of the yeast ACT1, ADH1, CYC1, and YPT1 cDNAs, which showed that the polyadenylation sites used in vivo can be scattered over a region spanning up to 200 nucleotides. It therefore seems very unlikely that a single signal sequence is responsible for the selection of all these polyadenylation sites. Our study also showed that in the large majority of mRNAs, polyadenylation starts directly before or after an adenosine residue and that 3'-end formation of ADH1 transcripts occurs preferentially at the sequence PyAAA. Site-directed mutagenesis of these sites in the ADH1 gene suggested that this PyAAA sequence is essential for polyadenylation site selection both in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, the 3'-terminal regions of the yeast genes investigated here are characterized by their capacity to act as signals for 3'-end formation in vivo in either orientation.


2005 ◽  
Vol 49 (8) ◽  
pp. 3562-3565 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philippe Bidet ◽  
Béatrice Burghoffer ◽  
Valérie Gautier ◽  
Naïma Brahimi ◽  
Patricia Mariani-Kurkdjian ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT We describe in vivo selection of a Klebsiella pneumoniae strain with diminished imipenem susceptibility attributable to plasmid-encoded ACC-1 β-lactamase production and loss of a 36-kDa major outer membrane protein, together with transfer of this plasmid from K. pneumoniae to Escherichia coli in a Tunisian infant.


1984 ◽  
Vol 4 (7) ◽  
pp. 1393-1401
Author(s):  
B Errede ◽  
T S Cardillo ◽  
M A Teague ◽  
F Sherman

The CYC7-H2 mutation in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae was caused by insertion of a Ty1 transposable element in front of the iso-2-cytochrome c structural gene, CYC7. The Ty1 insertion places iso-2-cytochrome c production under control of regulatory signals that are normally required for mating functions in yeast cells. We have investigated the regions of the Ty1 insertion that are responsible for the aberrant production of iso-2-cytochrome c in the CYC7-H2 mutant. Five alterations of the CYC7-H2 gene were obtained by specific restriction endonuclease cleavage of the cloned DNA and ligation of appropriate fragments. The CYC7+, CYC7-H2, and modified CYC7-H2 genes were each inserted into the yeast vector YIp5 and used to transform a cytochrome c-deficient yeast strain. Expression and regulation of each allele integrated at the CYC7 locus have been compared in vivo by determination of the amount of iso-2-cytochrome c produced. These results show that distal regions of the Ty1 element are not essential for the CYC7-H2 overproducing phenotype. In contrast, alterations in the vicinity of the proximal Ty1 junction abolish the CYC7-H2 expression and give rise to different phenotypes.


1991 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 2736-2743
Author(s):  
H Xu ◽  
J D Boeke

The Ty1 elements in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae are a family of retrotransposons which transpose via a process similar to that of retroviral replication. We report here that the Ty1 transposition process can be blocked posttranscriptionally by treatment of cells with mating pheromones. When haploid yeast cells are treated with appropriate mating pheromones, the transposition frequency of a marked Ty1 element driven by the GAL1 promoter is greatly diminished. Ty1 viruslike particles (VLPs), the putative intermediates for transposition, can be isolated from mating pheromone-treated cells. These VLPs accumulate to normal levels but are aberrant in that they produce very few reverse transcripts of Ty1 RNA both in vivo and in vitro and contain subnormal amounts of p90-TYB and related proteins. In addition, a TYA phosphoprotein product accumulates in treated cells, and some species of TYB proteins have decreased stability. We also show that decreased transposition in mating pheromone-treated cells is not a consequence of simply blocking cell division, since Ty1 transposes at a nearly normal rate in yeast cells arrested in G2 by the drug nocodazole.


1991 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 3105-3114
Author(s):  
J Schnier ◽  
H G Schwelberger ◽  
Z Smit-McBride ◽  
H A Kang ◽  
J W Hershey

Translation intitiation factor eIF-5A (previously named eIF-4D) is a highly conserved protein that promotes formation of the first peptide bond. One of its lysine residues is modified by spermidine to form hypusine, a posttranslational modification unique to eIF-5A. To elucidate the function of eIF-5A and determine the role of its hypusine modification, the cDNA encoding human eIF-5A was used as a probe to identify and clone the corresponding genes from the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Two genes named TIF51A and TIF51B were cloned and sequenced. The two yeast proteins are closely related, sharing 90% sequence identity, and each is ca. 63% identical to the human protein. The purified protein expressed from the TIF51A gene substitutes for HeLa eIF-5A in the mammalian methionyl-puromycin synthesis assay. Strains lacking the A form of eIF-5A, constructed by disruption of TIF51A with LEU2, grow slowly, whereas strains lacking the B form, in which HIS3 was used to disrupt TIF51B, show no growth rate phenotype. However, strains with both TIF51A and TIF51B disrupted are not viable, indicating that eIF-5a is essential for cell growth in yeast cells. Northern (RNA) blot analysis shows two mRNA species, a larger mRNA (0.9 kb) transcribed from TIF51A and a smaller mRNA (0.8 kb) encoded by TIF51B. Under the aerobic growth conditions of this study, the 0.8-kb TIF51B transcript is not detected in the wild-type strain and is expressed only when TIF51A is disrupted. The TIF51A gene was altered by site-directed mutagenesis at the site of hypusination by changing the Lys codon to that for Arg, thereby producing a stable protein that retains the positive charge but is not modified to the hypusine derivative. The plasmid shuffle technique was used to replace the wild-type gene with the mutant form, resulting in failure of the yeast cells to grow. This result indicates that hypusine very likely is required for the vital in vivo function of eIF-5A and suggests a precise, essential role for the polyamine spermidine in cell metabolism.


1991 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 2736-2743 ◽  
Author(s):  
H Xu ◽  
J D Boeke

The Ty1 elements in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae are a family of retrotransposons which transpose via a process similar to that of retroviral replication. We report here that the Ty1 transposition process can be blocked posttranscriptionally by treatment of cells with mating pheromones. When haploid yeast cells are treated with appropriate mating pheromones, the transposition frequency of a marked Ty1 element driven by the GAL1 promoter is greatly diminished. Ty1 viruslike particles (VLPs), the putative intermediates for transposition, can be isolated from mating pheromone-treated cells. These VLPs accumulate to normal levels but are aberrant in that they produce very few reverse transcripts of Ty1 RNA both in vivo and in vitro and contain subnormal amounts of p90-TYB and related proteins. In addition, a TYA phosphoprotein product accumulates in treated cells, and some species of TYB proteins have decreased stability. We also show that decreased transposition in mating pheromone-treated cells is not a consequence of simply blocking cell division, since Ty1 transposes at a nearly normal rate in yeast cells arrested in G2 by the drug nocodazole.


1996 ◽  
Vol 16 (7) ◽  
pp. 3651-3657 ◽  
Author(s):  
S P Shaw ◽  
J Wingfield ◽  
M J Dorsey ◽  
J Ma

The general transcription factor IIB (TFIIB) is required for RNA polymerase II transcription in eukaryotes. It provides a physical link between the TATA-binding protein (TBP) and the RNA polymerase and is a component previously suggested to respond to transcriptional activators in vitro. In this report, we compare the yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) and human forms of the protein in yeast cells to study their functional differences. We demonstrate that human TFIIB fails to functionally replace yeast TFIIB in yeast cells. By analyzing various human-yeast hybrid TFIIB molecules, we show that a 14-amino-acid region at the amino terminus of the first repeat of yeast TFIIB plays an important role in determining species specificity in vivo. In addition, we identify four amino acids in this region that are critical for an amphipathic helix unique to yeast TFIIB. By site-directed mutagenesis analyses we demonstrate that these four amino acids are important for yeast TFIIB's activity in vivo. Finally, we show that mutations in the species-specific region of yeast TFIIB can differentially affect the expression of genes activated by different activators in vivo. These results provide strong evidence suggesting that yeast TFIIB is involved in the process of transcriptional activation in living cells.


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