scholarly journals Prm1 Targeting to Contact Sites Enhances Fusion during Mating in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

2010 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 1538-1548 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valerie N. Olmo ◽  
Eric Grote

ABSTRACT Prm1 is a pheromone-regulated membrane glycoprotein involved in the plasma membrane fusion event of Saccharomyces cerevisiae mating. Although this function suggests that Prm1 should act at contact sites in pairs of mating yeast cells where plasma membrane fusion occurs, only a small percentage of the total Prm1 was actually detected on the plasma membrane. We therefore investigated the intracellular transport of Prm1 and how this transport contributes to cell fusion. Two Prm1 chimeras that were sorted away from the contact site had reduced fusion activity, indicating that Prm1 indeed functions at contact sites. However, most Prm1 is located in endosomes and other cytoplasmic organelles and is targeted to vacuoles for degradation. Mutations in a putative endocytosis signal in a cytoplasmic loop partially stabilized the Prm1 protein and caused it to accumulate on the plasma membrane, but this endocytosis mutant actually had reduced mating activity. When Prm1 was expressed from a galactose-regulated promoter and its synthesis was repressed at the start of mating, vanishingly small amounts of Prm1 protein remained at the time when the plasma membranes came into contact. Nevertheless, this stable pool of Prm1 was retained at polarized sites on the plasma membrane and was sufficient to promote plasma membrane fusion. Thus, the amount of Prm1 expressed in mating yeast is far in excess of the amount required to facilitate fusion.

mSphere ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hasib A. M. Sarder ◽  
Xiaobing Li ◽  
Charlotta Funaya ◽  
Emmanuelle Cordat ◽  
Manfred J. Schmitt ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been frequently used to study biogenesis, functionality, and intracellular transport of various renal proteins, including ion channels, solute transporters, and aquaporins. Specific mutations in genes encoding most of these renal proteins affect kidney function in such a way that various disease phenotypes ultimately occur. In this context, human kidney anion exchanger 1 (kAE1) represents an important bicarbonate/chloride exchanger which maintains the acid-base homeostasis in the human body. Malfunctions in kAE1 lead to a pathological phenotype known as distal renal tubular acidosis (dRTA). Here, we evaluated the potential of baker's yeast as a model system to investigate different cellular aspects of kAE1 physiology. For the first time, we successfully expressed yeast codon-optimized full-length versions of tagged and untagged wild-type kAE1 and demonstrated their partial localization at the yeast plasma membrane (PM). Finally, pH and chloride measurements further suggest biological activity of full-length kAE1, emphasizing the potential of S. cerevisiae as a model system for studying trafficking, activity, and/or degradation of mammalian ion channels and transporters such as kAE1 in the future. IMPORTANCE Distal renal tubular acidosis (dRTA) is a common kidney dysfunction characterized by impaired acid secretion via urine. Previous studies revealed that α-intercalated cells of dRTA patients express mutated forms of human kidney anion exchanger 1 (kAE1) which result in inefficient plasma membrane targeting or diminished expression levels of kAE1. However, the precise dRTA-causing processes are inadequately understood, and alternative model systems are helpful tools to address kAE1-related questions in a fast and inexpensive way. In contrast to a previous study, we successfully expressed full-length kAE1 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Using advanced microscopy techniques as well as different biochemical and functionality assays, plasma membrane localization and biological activity were confirmed for the heterologously expressed anion transporter. These findings represent first important steps to use the potential of yeast as a model organism for studying trafficking, activity, and degradation of kAE1 and its mutant variants in the future.


2004 ◽  
Vol 3 (6) ◽  
pp. 1664-1673 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hui Jin ◽  
Candice Carlile ◽  
Scott Nolan ◽  
Eric Grote

ABSTRACT Membrane fusion requires localized destabilization of two phospholipid bilayers, but unrestrained membrane destabilization could result in lysis. prm1 mutant yeast cells have a defect at the plasma membrane fusion stage of mating that typically results in the accumulation of prezygotes that have fingers of membrane-bound cytoplasm projecting from one cell of each pair into its mating partner in the direction of the osmotic gradient between the cells. However, some prm1 mating pairs fuse successfully whereas the two cells in other prm1 mating pairs simultaneously lyse. Lysis only occurs if both mating partners are prm1 mutants. Osmotic stabilization does not protect prm1 mating pairs from lysis, indicating that lysis is not caused by a cell wall defect. prm1 mating pairs without functional mitochondria still lyse, ruling out programmed cell death. No excess lysis was found after pheromone treatment of haploid prm1 cells, and lysis did not occur in mating pairs when prm1 was combined with the fus1 and fus2 mutations to block cell wall remodeling. Furthermore, short (<1 μm) cytoplasmic microfingers indicating the completion of cell wall remodeling appeared immediately before lysis. In combination, these results demonstrate that plasma membrane contact is a prerequisite for lysis. Cytoplasmic microfingers are unlikely to cause lysis since most prm1 mating pairs with microfingers do not lyse, and microfingers were also detected before fusion in some wild-type mating pairs. The lysis of prm1 mutant mating pairs suggests that the Prm1 protein stabilizes the membrane fusion event of yeast mating.


1980 ◽  
Vol 86 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
R L Steere ◽  
E F Erbe ◽  
J M Moseley

Fracture-temperature related differences in the ultrastructure of plasmalemma P faces of freeze-fractured baker's yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) have been observed in high-resolution replicas prepared in freeze-etch systems pumped to 2 X 10(-7) torr in which the specimens were protected from contamination by use of liquid nitrogen-cooled shrouds. Two major P-face images were observed regardless of the source of the yeast, the age of the culture, the growth temperature, the physiological condition, or the suspending medium used: (a) a "cold-fracture image" with many strands closely associuated with tubelike particles (essentially the same image as those previously published for yeast freeze-fractured at 77 degrees K), and (b) a "prefracture image" characterized by the presence of more distinct tubelike particles with few or no associated strands (for aging cultures, the image recently referred to as "paracrystalline arrays" of "craterlike particles"). Both types of P-face image can be found in separate areas of single replicas and occasionally even within a single plasma membrane. Whereas portions of replicas known to be fractured at any temperature colder than 218 degrees K reveal only the cold-fracture image, prefracture images are found in cells intentionally fractured at 243 degrees K and in cracks or fissures which develop during the freezing of other specimens. These findings demonstrate that the prefracture image results from the fracturing of specimens at some temperature above 230 degrees K, no t from fracturing specimens at some temperature between 173 degrees and 77 degrees K, and not from the use of "starved" yeast cells.


1989 ◽  
Vol 109 (6) ◽  
pp. 2801-2808 ◽  
Author(s):  
C Y Nadin ◽  
J Rogers ◽  
S Tomlinson ◽  
J M Edwardson

The molecular details of the final step in the process of regulated exocytosis, the fusion of the membrane of the secretory granule with the plasma membrane, are at present obscure. As a first step in an investigation of this membrane fusion event, we have developed a cell-free assay for the interaction between pancreatic zymogen granules and plasma membranes. We show here that plasma membranes are able to trigger the release of the granule contents, and that this effect is specific to pancreatic membranes, involves membrane fusion, requires membrane proteins, and is stimulated by activators of G-proteins but not by Ca2+. The assay is simple, reliable, and rapid, and should permit the identification of proteins that are involved in the exocytotic fusion event.


2007 ◽  
Vol 27 (9) ◽  
pp. 3456-3469 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaohui Huang ◽  
Larry M. Lifshitz ◽  
Christine Jones ◽  
Karl D. Bellve ◽  
Clive Standley ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy reveals highly mobile structures containing enhanced green fluorescent protein-tagged glucose transporter 4 (GLUT4) within a zone about 100 nm beneath the plasma membrane of 3T3-L1 adipocytes. We developed a computer program (Fusion Assistant) that enables direct analysis of the docking/fusion kinetics of hundreds of exocytic fusion events. Insulin stimulation increases the fusion frequency of exocytic GLUT4 vesicles by ∼4-fold, increasing GLUT4 content in the plasma membrane. Remarkably, insulin signaling modulates the kinetics of the fusion process, decreasing the vesicle tethering/docking duration prior to membrane fusion. In contrast, the kinetics of GLUT4 molecules spreading out in the plasma membrane from exocytic fusion sites is unchanged by insulin. As GLUT4 accumulates in the plasma membrane, it is also immobilized in punctate structures on the cell surface. A previous report suggested these structures are exocytic fusion sites (Lizunov et al., J. Cell Biol. 169:481-489, 2005). However, two-color TIRF microscopy using fluorescent proteins fused to clathrin light chain or GLUT4 reveals these structures are clathrin-coated patches. Taken together, these data show that insulin signaling accelerates the transition from docking of GLUT4-containing vesicles to their fusion with the plasma membrane and promotes GLUT4 accumulation in clathrin-based endocytic structures on the plasma membrane.


2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 590-600 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabien Lefèbvre ◽  
Valérie Prouzet-Mauléon ◽  
Michel Hugues ◽  
Marc Crouzet ◽  
Aurélie Vieillemard ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Establishment and maintenance of cell polarity in eukaryotes depends upon the regulation of Rho GTPases. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae , the Rho GTPase activating protein (RhoGAP) Rgd1p stimulates the GTPase activities of Rho3p and Rho4p, which are involved in bud growth and cytokinesis, respectively. Consistent with the distribution of Rho3p and Rho4p, Rgd1p is found mostly in areas of polarized growth during cell cycle progression. Rgd1p was mislocalized in mutants specifically altered for Golgi apparatus-based phosphatidylinositol 4-P [PtdIns(4)P] synthesis and for PtdIns(4,5)P 2 production at the plasma membrane. Analysis of Rgd1p distribution in different membrane-trafficking mutants suggested that Rgd1p was delivered to growth sites via the secretory pathway. Rgd1p may associate with post-Golgi vesicles by binding to PtdIns(4)P and then be transported by secretory vesicles to the plasma membrane. In agreement, we show that Rgd1p coimmunoprecipitated and localized with markers specific to secretory vesicles and cofractionated with a plasma membrane marker. Moreover, in vivo imaging revealed that Rgd1p was transported in an anterograde manner from the mother cell to the daughter cell in a vectoral manner. Our data indicate that secretory vesicles are involved in the delivery of RhoGAP Rgd1p to the bud tip and bud neck.


mBio ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andy Hesketh ◽  
Marta Vergnano ◽  
Stephen G. Oliver

ABSTRACT Correlations between gene transcription and the abundance of high-energy purine nucleotides in Saccharomyces cerevisiae have often been noted. However, there has been no systematic investigation of this phenomenon in the absence of confounding factors such as nutrient status and growth rate, and there is little hard evidence for a causal relationship. Whether transcription is fundamentally responsive to prevailing cellular energetic conditions via sensing of intracellular purine nucleotides, independently of specific nutrition, remains an important question. The controlled nutritional environment of chemostat culture revealed a strong correlation between ATP and GTP abundance and the transcription of genes required for growth. Short pathways for the inducible and futile consumption of ATP or GTP were engineered into S. cerevisiae, permitting analysis of the transcriptional effect of an increased demand for these nucleotides. During steady-state growth using the fermentable carbon source glucose, the futile consumption of ATP led to a decrease in intracellular ATP concentration but an increase in GTP and the guanylate energy charge (GEC). Expression of transcripts encoding proteins involved in ribosome biogenesis, and those controlled by promoters subject to SWI/SNF-dependent chromatin remodelling, was correlated with these nucleotide pool changes. Similar nucleotide abundance changes were observed using a nonfermentable carbon source, but an effect on the growth-associated transcriptional programme was absent. Induction of the GTP-cycling pathway had only marginal effects on nucleotide abundance and gene transcription. The transcriptional response of respiring cells to glucose was dampened in chemostats induced for ATP cycling, but not GTP cycling, and this was primarily associated with altered adenine nucleotide levels. IMPORTANCE This paper investigates whether, independently of the supply of any specific nutrient, gene transcription responds to the energy status of the cell by monitoring ATP and GTP levels. Short pathways for the inducible and futile consumption of ATP or GTP were engineered into the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and the effect of an increased demand for these purine nucleotides on gene transcription was analyzed. The resulting changes in transcription were most consistently associated with changes in GTP and GEC levels, although the reprogramming in gene expression during glucose repression is sensitive to adenine nucleotide levels. The results show that GTP levels play a central role in determining how genes act to respond to changes in energy supply and that any comprehensive understanding of the control of eukaryotic gene expression requires the elucidation of how changes in guanine nucleotide abundance are sensed and transduced to alter the global pattern of transcription.


2015 ◽  
Vol 81 (11) ◽  
pp. 3688-3698 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kazutaka Sawada ◽  
Tomoya Sato ◽  
Hiroshi Hamajima ◽  
Lahiru Niroshan Jayakody ◽  
Miyo Hirata ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTIn nature, different microorganisms create communities through their physiochemical and metabolic interactions. Many fermenting microbes, such as yeasts, lactic acid bacteria, and acetic acid bacteria, secrete acidic substances and grow faster at acidic pH values. However, on the surface of cereals, the pH is neutral to alkaline. Therefore, in order to grow on cereals, microbes must adapt to the alkaline environment at the initial stage of colonization; such adaptations are also crucial for industrial fermentation. Here, we show that the yeastSaccharomyces cerevisiae, which is incapable of synthesizing glucosylceramide (GlcCer), adapted to alkaline conditions after exposure to GlcCer from koji cereal cultured withAspergillus kawachii. We also show that various species of GlcCer derived from different plants and fungi similarly conferred alkali tolerance to yeast. Although exogenous ceramide also enhanced the alkali tolerance of yeast, no discernible degradation of GlcCer to ceramide was observed in the yeast culture, suggesting that exogenous GlcCer itself exerted the activity. Exogenous GlcCer also increased ethanol tolerance and modified the flavor profile of the yeast cells by altering the membrane properties. These results indicate that GlcCer fromA. kawachiimodifies the physiology of the yeastS. cerevisiaeand demonstrate a new mechanism for cooperation between microbes in food fermentation.


1963 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 501-518 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Hunter Colwin ◽  
Arthur L. Colwin

An earlier paper showed that in Saccoglossus the acrosomal tubule makes contact with the egg plasma membrane. The present paper includes evidence that the sperm and egg plasma membranes fuse to establish the single continuous zygote membrane which, consequently, is a mosaic. Contrary to the general hypothesis of Tyler, pinocytosis or phagocytosis plays no role in zygote formation. Contact between the gametes is actually between two newly exposed surfaces: in the spermatozoon, the surface was formerly the interior of the acrosomal vesicle; in the egg, it was membrane previously covered by the egg envelopes. The concept that all the events of fertilization are mediated by a fertilizin-antifertilizin reaction seems an oversimplification of events actually observed: rather, the evidence indicates that a series of specific biochemical interactions probably would be involved. Gamete membrane fusion permits sperm periacrosomal material to meet the egg cytoplasm; if an activating substance exists in the spermatozoon it probably is periacrosomal rather than acrosomal in origin. The contents of the acrosome are expended in the process of delivering the sperm plasma membrane to the egg plasma membrane. After these membranes coalesce, the sperm nucleus and other internal sperm structures move into the egg cytoplasm.


Cells ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 337 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Adnan ◽  
Waqar Islam ◽  
Jing Zhang ◽  
Wenhui Zheng ◽  
Guo-Dong Lu

Protein synthesis begins at free ribosomes or ribosomes attached with the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Newly synthesized proteins are transported to the plasma membrane for secretion through conventional or unconventional pathways. In conventional protein secretion, proteins are transported from the ER lumen to Golgi lumen and through various other compartments to be secreted at the plasma membrane, while unconventional protein secretion bypasses the Golgi apparatus. Soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor attachment protein receptors (SNARE) proteins are involved in cargo vesicle trafficking and membrane fusion. The ER localized vesicle associated SNARE (v-SNARE) protein Sec22 plays a major role during anterograde and retrograde transport by promoting efficient membrane fusion and assisting in the assembly of higher order complexes by homodimer formation. Sec22 is not only confined to ER–Golgi intermediate compartments (ERGIC) but also facilitates formation of contact sites between ER and plasma membranes. Sec22 mutation is responsible for the development of atherosclerosis and symptoms in the brain in Alzheimer’s disease and aging in humans. In the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, Sec22 is essential for photoreceptor morphogenesis, the wingless signaling pathway, and normal ER, Golgi, and endosome morphology. In the plant Arabidopsis thaliana, it is involved in development, and in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, it is in involved in the RNA interference (RNAi) pathway. In filamentous fungi, it affects cell wall integrity, growth, reproduction, pathogenicity, regulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), expression of extracellular enzymes, and transcriptional regulation of many development related genes. This review provides a detailed account of Sec22 function, summarizes its domain structure, discusses its genetic redundancy with Ykt6, discusses what is known about its localization to discrete membranes, its contributions in conventional and unconventional autophagy, and a variety of other roles across different cellular systems ranging from higher to lower eukaryotes, and highlights some of the surprises that have originated from research on Sec22.


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