scholarly journals ISOLATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF MUTATIONS IN THE β-TUBULIN GENE OF SACCHAROMYCES CEREVISIAE

Genetics ◽  
1985 ◽  
Vol 111 (4) ◽  
pp. 715-734
Author(s):  
James H Thomas ◽  
Norma F Neff ◽  
David Botstein

ABSTRACT Of 173 mutants of Saccharomyces cerevisiae resistant to the antimitotic drug benomyl (BenR), six also conferred cold-sensitivity for growth and three others conferred temperature-sensitivity for growth in the absence of benomyl. All of the benR mutations tested, including the nine conditional-lethal mutations, were shown to be in the same gene. This gene, TUB2, has previously been molecularly cloned and identified as the yeast structural gene encoding β-tubulin. Four of the conditional-lethal alleles of TUB2 were mapped to particular restriction fragments within the gene. One of these mutations was cloned and sequenced, revealing a single amino acid change, from arginine to histidine at amino acid position 241, which is responsible for both the BenR and the cold-sensitive lethal phenotypes. The terminal arrest morphology of conditional-lethal alleles of TUB2 at their restrictive temperature showed a characteristic cell-division-cycle defect, suggesting a requirement for tubulin function primarily in mitosis during the vegetative growth cycle. The TUB2 gene was genetically mapped to the distal left arm of chromosome VI, very near the actin gene, ACT1; no CDC (cell-division-cycle) loci have been mapped previously to this location. TUB2 is thus the first cell-division-cycle gene known to encode a cytoskeletal protein that has been identified in S. cerevisiae.

Genetics ◽  
1980 ◽  
Vol 96 (4) ◽  
pp. 859-876 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Schild ◽  
Breck Byers

ABSTRACT The meiotic effects of two cell-division-cycle mutations of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (cdc5 and cdc14) have been examined. These mutations were isolated by L. H. Hartwell and his colleagues and characterized as defective in mitosis, causing a temperature-sensitive arrest in late nuclear division. When subjected to the restrictive temperature in meiosis, diploid cells homozygous for either of these mutations generally proceeded through premeiotic DNA synthesis and commitment to meiotic levels of recombination, but then arrested at a stage following spindle pole body (SPB) duplication and separation. The two SPBs lacked the interconnection by spindle microtubules typical of the complete meiosis I spindle. Challenge of these homozygotes by a semi-restrictive temperature often caused the production of asci containing two diploid spores. Genetic analysis of the viable pairs of spores revealed that each spore had become homozygous for centromere-linked markers significantly more frequently than for distal markers, indicating that the two spores each contained pairs of sister centromeres that had co-segregated in the reductional division of meiosis I. Ultrastructural analysis of the cdc5 homozygote demonstrated that these cells had completed meiosis I and formed two meiosis II spindles, but that the latter remained unusually short. This resulted in the encapsulation of both poles of each spindle within a single spore wall. These mutations therefore are defective in both meiotic divisions, as well as in the mitotic division described originally.


1986 ◽  
Vol 6 (9) ◽  
pp. 3150-3155 ◽  
Author(s):  
P L Myers ◽  
R C Skvirsky ◽  
M L Greenberg ◽  
H Greer

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, many amino acid biosynthetic pathways are coregulated by a complex general control system: starvation for a single amino acid results in the derepression of amino acid biosynthetic genes in multiple pathways. Derepression of these genes is mediated by positive (GCN) and negative (GCD) regulatory genes. In this paper we describe the isolation and characterization of a previously unreported negative regulatory gene, GCD3. A gcd3 mutation is recessive to wild type, confers resistance to multiple amino acid analogs, and results in overproduction and partially constitutive elevation of mRNA levels for amino acid biosynthetic genes. Furthermore, a gcd3 mutation can overcome the derepression-deficient phenotype of mutations in the positive regulatory GCN1, GCN2, and GCN3 genes. However, the gcd3 mutation cannot overcome the derepression-deficient phenotype of a gcn4 mutation, suggesting that GCD3 acts as a negative regulator of the important GCN4 gene. Northern blot analysis confirmed this conclusion, in that the steady-state levels of GCN4 mRNA are greatly increased in a gcd3 mutant. Thus, the negative regulatory gene GCD3 plays a central role in derepression of amino acid biosynthetic genes.


Genetics ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 120 (3) ◽  
pp. 681-695
Author(s):  
P J Schatz ◽  
F Solomon ◽  
D Botstein

Abstract Microtubules in yeast are functional components of the mitotic and meiotic spindles and are essential for nuclear movement during cell division and mating. We have isolated 70 conditional-lethal mutations in the TUB1 alpha-tubulin gene of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae using a plasmid replacement technique. Of the 70 mutations isolated, 67 resulted in cold-sensitivity, one resulted in temperature-sensitivity, and two resulted in both. Fine-structure mapping revealed that the mutations were located throughout the TUB1 gene. We characterized the phenotypes caused by 38 of the mutations after shifts of mutants to the nonpermissive temperature. Populations of temperature-shifted mutant cells contained an excess of large-budded cells with undivided nuclei, consistent with the previously determined role of microtubules in yeast mitosis. Several of the mutants arrested growth with a sufficiently uniform morphology to indicate that TUB1 has at least one specific role in the progression of the yeast cell cycle. A number of the mutants had gross defects in microtubule assembly at the restrictive temperature, some with no microtubules and some with excess microtubules. Other mutants contained disorganized microtubules and nuclei. There were no obvious correlations between these phenotypes and the map positions of the mutations. Greater than 90% of the mutants examined were hypersensitive to the antimicrotubule drug benomyl. Mutations that suppressed the cold-sensitive phenotypes of two of the TUB1 alleles occurred in TUB2, the single structural gene specifying beta-tubulin.


1986 ◽  
Vol 6 (9) ◽  
pp. 3150-3155
Author(s):  
P L Myers ◽  
R C Skvirsky ◽  
M L Greenberg ◽  
H Greer

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, many amino acid biosynthetic pathways are coregulated by a complex general control system: starvation for a single amino acid results in the derepression of amino acid biosynthetic genes in multiple pathways. Derepression of these genes is mediated by positive (GCN) and negative (GCD) regulatory genes. In this paper we describe the isolation and characterization of a previously unreported negative regulatory gene, GCD3. A gcd3 mutation is recessive to wild type, confers resistance to multiple amino acid analogs, and results in overproduction and partially constitutive elevation of mRNA levels for amino acid biosynthetic genes. Furthermore, a gcd3 mutation can overcome the derepression-deficient phenotype of mutations in the positive regulatory GCN1, GCN2, and GCN3 genes. However, the gcd3 mutation cannot overcome the derepression-deficient phenotype of a gcn4 mutation, suggesting that GCD3 acts as a negative regulator of the important GCN4 gene. Northern blot analysis confirmed this conclusion, in that the steady-state levels of GCN4 mRNA are greatly increased in a gcd3 mutant. Thus, the negative regulatory gene GCD3 plays a central role in derepression of amino acid biosynthetic genes.


1997 ◽  
Vol 200 (2) ◽  
pp. 321-330 ◽  
Author(s):  
F Supek ◽  
L Supekova ◽  
H Nelson ◽  
N Nelson

A novel Saccharomyces cerevisiae mutant, unable to grow in the presence of 12.5 mmol l-1 EGTA, was isolated. The phenotype of the mutant is caused by a single amino acid change (Gly149 to Arg) in the essential yeast cell division cycle gene CDC1. The mutant could be suppressed by overexpression of the SMF1 gene, which codes for a plasma membrane Mn2+ transporter. We observed that the yeast SMF1 gene shares homology with the mouse Nramp gene. Nramp (Bcg) was cloned as a gene responsible for mouse resistance to infection with mycobacteria and is identical with the Ity and the Lsh genes conferring resistance to infection by Salmonella typhimurium and Leishmania donovani, respectively. Although the cloning of Nramp identified the gene responsible for the resistance of mice to mycobacteria, its function is unknown. We propose that the mammalian protein, like the yeast transporter, is a Mn2+ and/or Zn2+ transporter. Following the phagocytosis of a parasite into the phagosome, the macrophage produces reactive oxygen and/or nitrogen intermediates that are toxic for the internalized bacteria. The survival of the pathogen during the burst of macrophage respiratory activity is thought to be partly mediated by microbial superoxide dismutase (SOD), which contains Mn2+ or Fe2+ in its active centre. Nramp may transport Mn2+ from the extracellular milieu into the cytoplasm of a macrophage and, after the generation of the phagosome, remove Mn2+ from the organelle. Thus, the Mn(2+)-depletion of the phagosome microenvironment by the Nramp gene product may be a rate-limiting step in the metalloenzyme's production by the engulfed bacteria. This limitation will restrict the mycobacterial ability to produce active enzymes such as SOD and prevent the propagation of the ingested microorganisms. Conversely, an increased concentration of Mn2+ in the phagosome caused by a defective Nramp transporter (Bcgs) may promote the growth of the mycobacteria and render the organism sensitive to the pathogen. We use a similar approach to identify, clone and study other metal-ion transporters.


Genetics ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 163 (1) ◽  
pp. 447-452 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey S Thompson ◽  
Marilyn L Snow ◽  
Summer Giles ◽  
Leslie E McPherson ◽  
Michael Grunstein

Abstract Fourteen novel single-amino-acid substitution mutations in histone H3 that disrupt telomeric silencing in Saccharomyces cerevisiae were identified, 10 of which are clustered within the α1 helix and L1 loop of the essential histone fold. Several of these mutations cause derepression of silent mating locus HML, and an additional subset cause partial loss of basal repression at the GAL1 promoter. Our results identify a new domain within the essential core of histone H3 that is required for heterochromatin-mediated silencing.


2009 ◽  
Vol 90 (7) ◽  
pp. 1741-1747 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tahir H. Malik ◽  
Candie Wolbert ◽  
Laura Nerret ◽  
Christian Sauder ◽  
Steven Rubin

It has previously been shown that three amino acid changes, one each in the fusion (F; Ala/Thr-91→Thr), haemagglutinin–neuraminidase (HN; Ser-466→Asn) and polymerase (L; Ile-736→Val) proteins, are associated with attenuation of a neurovirulent clinical isolate of mumps virus (88-1961) following serial passage in vitro. Here, using full-length cDNA plasmid clones and site-directed mutagenesis, it was shown that the single amino acid change in the HN protein and to a lesser extent, the change in the L protein, resulted in neuroattenuation, as assessed in rats. The combination of both amino acid changes caused neuroattenuation of the virus to levels previously reported for the clinical isolate following attenuation in vitro. The amino acid change in the F protein, despite having a dramatic effect on protein function in vitro, was previously shown to not be involved in the observed neuroattenuation, highlighting the importance of conducting confirmatory in vivo studies. This report provides additional supporting evidence for the role of the HN protein as a virulence factor and, as far as is known, is the first report to associate an amino acid change in the L protein with mumps virus neuroattenuation.


FEBS Letters ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 470 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Vais ◽  
S. Atkinson ◽  
N. Eldursi ◽  
A.L. Devonshire ◽  
M.S. Williamson ◽  
...  

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