scholarly journals Transcriptional Regulation of the Two Sterol Esterification Genes in the Yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae

2001 ◽  
Vol 183 (17) ◽  
pp. 4950-4957 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristen Jensen-Pergakes ◽  
Zhongmin Guo ◽  
Mara Giattina ◽  
Stephen L. Sturley ◽  
Martin Bard

ABSTRACT Saccharomyces cerevisiae transcribes two genes,ARE1 and ARE2, that contribute disproportionately to the esterification of sterols. Are2p is the major enzyme isoform in a wild-type cell growing aerobically. This likely results from a combination of differential transcription initiation and transcript stability. By using ARE1 andARE2 promoter fusions to lacZ reporters, we demonstrated that transcriptional initiation from theARE1 promoter is significantly reduced compared to that from the ARE2 promoter. Furthermore, the half-life of the ARE2 mRNA is approximately 12 times as long as that of the ARE1 transcript. We present evidence that the primary role of the minor sterol esterification isoform encoded byARE1 is to esterify sterol intermediates, whereas the role of the ARE2 enzyme is to esterify ergosterol, the end product of the pathway. Accordingly, the ARE1promoter is upregulated in strains that accumulate ergosterol precursors. Furthermore, ARE1 and ARE2are oppositely regulated by heme. Under heme-deficient growth conditions, ARE1 was upregulated fivefold whileARE2 was down-regulated. ARE2 requires the HAP1 transcription factor for optimal expression, and both ARE genes are derepressed in arox1 (repressor of oxygen) mutant genetic background. We further report that the ARE genes are not subject to end product inhibition; neither ARE1 nor ARE2transcription is altered in an are mutant background, nor does overexpression of either ARE gene alter the response of the ARE-lacZ reporter constructs. Our observations are consistent with an important physiological role for Are1p during anaerobic growth when heme is limiting and sterol precursors may accumulate. Conversely, Are2p is optimally required during aerobiosis when ergosterol is plentiful.

2008 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 603-612 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arkadiusz Miciałkiewicz ◽  
Anna Chełstowska

The Swc4p protein, encoded by an essential gene, is shared by two chromatin-remodeling complexes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells: NuA4 (nucleosome acetyltransferase of H4) and SWR1. The SWR1 complex catalyzes ATP-dependent exchange of the nucleosomal histone H2A for H2AZ (Htz1p). The activity of NuA4 is responsible mainly for the acetylation of the H4 histone but also for the acetylation of H2A and H2AZ. In this work we investigated the role of the Swc4p protein. Using random mutagenesis we isolated a collection of swc4 mutants and showed that the essential function of Swc4p resides in its N-terminal part, within the first 269 amino acids of the 476-amino acid-long protein. We also demonstrated that Swc4p is able to accommodate numerous mutations without losing its functionality under standard growth conditions. However, when swc4 mutants were exposed to methyl methanesulfonate (MMS), hydroxyurea or benomyl, severe growth deficiencies appeared, pointing to an involvement of Swc4p in many chromatin-based processes. The mutants' phenotypes did not result from an impairment of histone acetylation, as in the mutant which bears the shortest isolated variant of truncated Swc4p, the level of overall H4 acetylation was unchanged.


1994 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 189-199
Author(s):  
D S Pederson ◽  
T Fidrych

After each round of replication, new transcription initiation complexes must assemble on promoter DNA. This process may compete with packaging of the same promoter sequences into nucleosomes. To elucidate interactions between regulatory transcription factors and nucleosomes on newly replicated DNA, we asked whether heat shock factor (HSF) could be made to bind to nucleosomal DNA in vivo. A heat shock element (HSE) was embedded at either of two different sites within a DNA segment that directs the formation of a stable, positioned nucleosome. The resulting DNA segments were coupled to a reporter gene and transfected into the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Transcription from these two plasmid constructions after induction by heat shock was similar in amount to that from a control plasmid in which HSF binds to nucleosome-free DNA. High-resolution genomic footprint mapping of DNase I and micrococcal nuclease cleavage sites indicated that the HSE in these two plasmids was, nevertheless, packaged in a nucleosome. The inclusion of HSE sequences within (but relatively close to the edge of) the nucleosome did not alter the position of the nucleosome which formed with the parental DNA fragment. Genomic footprint analyses also suggested that the HSE-containing nucleosome was unchanged by the induction of transcription. Quantitative comparisons with control plasmids ruled out the possibility that HSF was bound only to a small fraction of molecules that might have escaped nucleosome assembly. Analysis of the helical orientation of HSE DNA in the nucleosome indicated that HSF contacted DNA residues that faced outward from the histone octamer. We discuss the significance of these results with regard to the role of nucleosomes in inhibiting transcription and the normal occurrence of nucleosome-free regions in promoters.


Cells ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 3359
Author(s):  
Dimitris Liakopoulos

In the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae DNA replication and spindle assembly can overlap. Therefore, signaling mechanisms modulate spindle dynamics in order to ensure correct timing of chromosome segregation relative to genome duplication, especially when replication is incomplete or the DNA becomes damaged. This review focuses on the molecular mechanisms that coordinate DNA replication and spindle dynamics, as well as on the role of spindle-dependent forces in DNA repair. Understanding the coupling between genome duplication and spindle function in yeast cells can provide important insights into similar processes operating in other eukaryotic organisms, including humans.


2008 ◽  
Vol 74 (12) ◽  
pp. 3644-3651 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wook Kim ◽  
Stuart B. Levy

ABSTRACT The annotation process of a newly sequenced bacterial genome is largely based on algorithms derived from databases of previously defined RNA and protein-encoding gene structures. This process generally excludes the possibility that the two strands of a given stretch of DNA can each harbor a gene in an overlapping manner. While the presence of such structures in eukaryotic genomes is considered to be relatively common, their counterparts in prokaryotic genomes are just beginning to be recognized. Application of an in vivo expression technology has previously identified 22 discrete genetic loci in Pseudomonas fluorescens Pf0-1 that were specifically activated in the soil environment, of which 10 were present in an antisense orientation relative to previously annotated genes. This observation led to the hypothesis that the physiological role of overlapping genetic structures may be relevant to growth conditions outside artificial laboratory media. Here, we examined the role of one of the overlapping gene pairs, iiv19 and leuA2, in soil. Although iiv19 was previously demonstrated to be preferentially activated in the soil environment, its absence did not alter the ability of P. fluorescens to colonize or survive in soil. Surprisingly, the absence of the leuA2 gene conferred a fitness advantage in the soil environment when leucine was supplied exogenously. This effect was determined to be independent of the iiv19 gene, and further analyses revealed that amino acid antagonism was the underlying mechanism behind the observed fitness advantage of the bacterium in soil. Our findings provide a potential mechanism for the frequent occurrence of auxotrophic mutants of Pseudomonas spp. in the lungs of cystic fibrosis patients.


1998 ◽  
Vol 180 (11) ◽  
pp. 2875-2882 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eckhard Boles ◽  
Patricia de Jong-Gubbels ◽  
Jack T. Pronk

ABSTRACT Pyruvate, a precursor for several amino acids, can be synthesized from phosphoenolpyruvate by pyruvate kinase. Nevertheless, pyk1 pyk2 mutants of Saccharomyces cerevisiae devoid of pyruvate kinase activity grew normally on ethanol in defined media, indicating the presence of an alternative route for pyruvate synthesis. A candidate for this role is malic enzyme, which catalyzes the oxidative decarboxylation of malate to pyruvate. Disruption of open reading frame YKL029c, which is homologous to malic enzyme genes from other organisms, abolished malic enzyme activity in extracts of glucose-grown cells. Conversely, overexpression ofYKL029c/MAE1 from the MET25 promoter resulted in an up to 33-fold increase of malic enzyme activity. Growth studies with mutants demonstrated that presence of either Pyk1p or Mae1p is required for growth on ethanol. Mutants lacking both enzymes could be rescued by addition of alanine or pyruvate to ethanol cultures. Disruption of MAE1 alone did not result in a clear phenotype. Regulation of MAE1 was studied by determining enzyme activities and MAE1 mRNA levels in wild-type cultures and by measuring β-galactosidase activities in a strain carrying a MAE1::lacZ fusion. Both in shake flask cultures and in carbon-limited chemostat cultures,MAE1 was constitutively expressed. A three- to fourfold induction was observed during anaerobic growth on glucose. Subcellular fractionation experiments indicated that malic enzyme in S. cerevisiae is a mitochondrial enzyme. Its regulation and localization suggest a role in the provision of intramitochondrial NADPH or pyruvate under anaerobic growth conditions. However, since null mutants could still grow anaerobically, this function is apparently not essential.


2008 ◽  
Vol 190 (18) ◽  
pp. 6170-6177 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda D. Rankin ◽  
Diane M. Bodenmiller ◽  
Jonathan D. Partridge ◽  
Shirley F. Nishino ◽  
Jim C. Spain ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Chromatin immunoprecipitation and microarray (ChIP-chip) analysis showed that the nitric oxide (NO)-sensitive repressor NsrR from Escherichia coli binds in vivo to the promoters of the tynA and feaB genes. These genes encode the first two enzymes of a pathway that is required for the catabolism of phenylethylamine (PEA) and its hydroxylated derivatives tyramine and dopamine. Deletion of nsrR caused small increases in the activities of the tynA and feaB promoters in cultures grown on PEA. Overexpression of nsrR severely retarded growth on PEA and caused a marked repression of the tynA and feaB promoters. Both the growth defect and the promoter repression were reversed in the presence of a source of NO. These results are consistent with NsrR mediating repression of the tynA and feaB genes by binding (in an NO-sensitive fashion) to the sites identified by ChIP-chip. E. coli was shown to use 3-nitrotyramine as a nitrogen source for growth, conditions which partially induce the tynA and feaB promoters. Mutation of tynA (but not feaB) prevented growth on 3-nitrotyramine. Growth yields, mutant phenotypes, and analyses of culture supernatants suggested that 3-nitrotyramine is oxidized to 4-hydroxy-3-nitrophenylacetate, with growth occurring at the expense of the amino group of 3-nitrotyramine. Accordingly, enzyme assays showed that 3-nitrotyramine and its oxidation product (4-hydroxy-3-nitrophenylacetaldehyde) could be oxidized by the enzymes encoded by tynA and feaB, respectively. The results suggest that an additional physiological role of the PEA catabolic pathway is to metabolize nitroaromatic compounds that may accumulate in cells exposed to NO.


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