Phenotypic consequences of tubulin overproduction in Saccharomyces cerevisiae: differences between alpha-tubulin and beta-tubulin

1990 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 5295-5304
Author(s):  
B Weinstein ◽  
F Solomon
Keyword(s):  
Saccharomyces Cerevisiae ◽  
Cell Division ◽  
Microtubule Assembly ◽  
Beta Tubulin ◽  
Alpha Tubulin ◽  
Tubulin Genes ◽  
Data Support ◽  
Cell Biol

Overexpression of alpha- and beta-tubulin genes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, separately or together, leads to accumulation of large excesses of each of the polypeptides and arrest of cell division. However, other consequences of overexpression of these genes differ in several ways. As shown previously (D. Burke, P. Gasdaska, and L. Hartwell, Mol. Cell. Biol. 9:1049-1059, 1989), overexpression of beta-tubulin leads, at early times, to loss of microtubule structures and loss of viability. Eventually, the excess beta-tubulin forms abnormal structures. We show here that, in contrast, overexpression of alpha-tubulin led to none of these phenotypes and in fact could suppress each of the phenotypes associated with beta-tubulin accumulation. Truncated forms of beta-tubulin that were not competent to carry out microtubule functions also failed to elicit the beta-tubulin-specific phenotypes when overexpressed. The data support the hypothesis that beta-tubulin in excess over alpha-tubulin is uniquely toxic, perhaps because it interferes with normal microtubule assembly.

scholarly journals Phenotypic consequences of tubulin overproduction in Saccharomyces cerevisiae: differences between alpha-tubulin and beta-tubulin.

1990 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 5295-5304 ◽  
Author(s):  
B Weinstein ◽  
F Solomon
Keyword(s):  
Saccharomyces Cerevisiae ◽  
Cell Division ◽  
Microtubule Assembly ◽  
Beta Tubulin ◽  
Alpha Tubulin ◽  
Tubulin Genes ◽  
Data Support ◽  
Cell Biol

Overexpression of alpha- and beta-tubulin genes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, separately or together, leads to accumulation of large excesses of each of the polypeptides and arrest of cell division. However, other consequences of overexpression of these genes differ in several ways. As shown previously (D. Burke, P. Gasdaska, and L. Hartwell, Mol. Cell. Biol. 9:1049-1059, 1989), overexpression of beta-tubulin leads, at early times, to loss of microtubule structures and loss of viability. Eventually, the excess beta-tubulin forms abnormal structures. We show here that, in contrast, overexpression of alpha-tubulin led to none of these phenotypes and in fact could suppress each of the phenotypes associated with beta-tubulin accumulation. Truncated forms of beta-tubulin that were not competent to carry out microtubule functions also failed to elicit the beta-tubulin-specific phenotypes when overexpressed. The data support the hypothesis that beta-tubulin in excess over alpha-tubulin is uniquely toxic, perhaps because it interferes with normal microtubule assembly.

scholarly journals Regulation of tubulin levels and microtubule assembly in Saccharomyces cerevisiae: consequences of altered tubulin gene copy number.

1990 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 5286-5294 ◽  
Author(s):  
W Katz ◽  
B Weinstein ◽  
F Solomon
Keyword(s):  
Saccharomyces Cerevisiae ◽  
Cellular Response ◽  
Gene Copy Number ◽  
Microtubule Assembly ◽  
Gene Copy ◽  
Microtubule Organization ◽  
Beta Tubulin ◽  
Alpha Tubulin ◽  
Tubulin Genes ◽  
Tubulin Protein

Microtubule organization in the cytoplasm is in part a function of the number and length of the assembled polymers. The intracellular concentration of tubulin could specify those parameters. Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains constructed with moderately decreased or increased copy numbers of tubulin genes provide an opportunity to study the cellular response to a steady-state change in tubulin concentration. We found no evidence of a mechanism for adjusting tubulin concentrations upward from a deficit, nor did we find a need for such a mechanism: cells with no more than 50% of the wild-type tubulin level were normal with respect to a series of microtubule-dependent properties. Strains with increased copies of both alpha- and beta-tubulin genes, or of alpha-tubulin genes alone, apparently did down regulate their tubulin levels. As a result, they contained greater than normal concentrations of tubulin but much less than predicted from the increase in gene number. Some of this down regulation occurred at the level of protein. These strains were also phenotypically normal. Cells could contain excess alpha-tubulin protein without detectable consequences, but perturbations resulting in excess beta-tubulin genes may have affected microtubule-dependent functions. All of the observed regulation of levels of tubulin can be explained as a response to toxicity associated with excess tubulin proteins, especially if beta-tubulin is much more toxic than alpha-tubulin.

Regulation of tubulin levels and microtubule assembly in Saccharomyces cerevisiae: consequences of altered tubulin gene copy number

1990 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 5286-5294
Author(s):  
W Katz ◽  
B Weinstein ◽  
F Solomon
Keyword(s):  
Saccharomyces Cerevisiae ◽  
Cellular Response ◽  
Gene Copy Number ◽  
Microtubule Assembly ◽  
Gene Copy ◽  
Microtubule Organization ◽  
Beta Tubulin ◽  
Alpha Tubulin ◽  
Tubulin Genes ◽  
Tubulin Protein

Microtubule organization in the cytoplasm is in part a function of the number and length of the assembled polymers. The intracellular concentration of tubulin could specify those parameters. Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains constructed with moderately decreased or increased copy numbers of tubulin genes provide an opportunity to study the cellular response to a steady-state change in tubulin concentration. We found no evidence of a mechanism for adjusting tubulin concentrations upward from a deficit, nor did we find a need for such a mechanism: cells with no more than 50% of the wild-type tubulin level were normal with respect to a series of microtubule-dependent properties. Strains with increased copies of both alpha- and beta-tubulin genes, or of alpha-tubulin genes alone, apparently did down regulate their tubulin levels. As a result, they contained greater than normal concentrations of tubulin but much less than predicted from the increase in gene number. Some of this down regulation occurred at the level of protein. These strains were also phenotypically normal. Cells could contain excess alpha-tubulin protein without detectable consequences, but perturbations resulting in excess beta-tubulin genes may have affected microtubule-dependent functions. All of the observed regulation of levels of tubulin can be explained as a response to toxicity associated with excess tubulin proteins, especially if beta-tubulin is much more toxic than alpha-tubulin.

scholarly journals Unlinked noncomplementation: isolation of new conditional-lethal mutations in each of the tubulin genes of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Genetics ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 119 (2) ◽  
pp. 249-260
Author(s):  
T Stearns ◽  
D Botstein
Keyword(s):  
Saccharomyces Cerevisiae ◽  
Beta Tubulin ◽  
Alpha Tubulin ◽  
Tubulin Genes ◽  
Cycle Arrest ◽  
Allele Specific ◽  
Cold Sensitive ◽  
Lethal Allele ◽  
Encoding Gene ◽  
New Mutations

Abstract Mutations in genes of Saccharomyces cerevisiae that code for proteins that interact with beta-tubulin were sought by screening for unlinked mutations that fail to complement mutations in the single beta-tubulin-encoding gene (TUB2). Among the first three noncomplementing mutations examined, two are linked to TUB2 while one is unlinked. The unlinked mutation was shown to be a conditional-lethal allele of the major alpha-tubulin-encoding gene (TUB1) and represents the first such mutation in that gene. The tub1-1 mutation itself causes a cold-sensitive cell-cycle arrest, and confers supersensitivity to the antimicrotubule drug benomyl. These phenotypes occur in the presence of a wild-type copy of the minor alpha-tubulin-encoding gene, TUB3; the combination of tub1-1 and a tub3 null mutation is inviable in haploids. Through further application of this method, new mutations in TUB2 and TUB3 were isolated as unlinked noncomplementers of tub1-1. The noncomplementation between tub1 and tub2 mutations is gene specific and allele specific, suggesting that the phenotype is due to an interaction at the protein level. We conclude that isolation of unlinked noncomplementing mutations is likely to be a generally useful method for isolating mutations in interacting gene products.

scholarly journals Gene-specific signal transduction between microtubules and tubulin genes in Tetrahymena thermophila.

1995 ◽  
Vol 15 (9) ◽  
pp. 5173-5179 ◽  
Author(s):  
L Gu ◽  
J Gaertig ◽  
L A Stargell ◽  
M A Gorovsky
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Signal Transduction ◽  
Mammalian Cells ◽  
Tetrahymena Thermophila ◽  
Tubulin Gene ◽  
Beta Tubulin ◽  
Alpha Tubulin ◽  
Tubulin Genes ◽  
Cell Biol ◽  
Tubulin Mrna

Mammalian cells regulate tubulin mRNA abundance by a posttranscriptional mechanism dependent on the concentration of tubulin monomer. Treatment of mammalian cells with microtubule-depolymerizing drugs and microtubule-polymerizing drugs causes decreases and increases in tubulin mRNA, respectively (D. W. Cleveland, Curr. Opin. Cell Biol. 1:10-14, 1989). In striking contrast to the case with mammalian cells, perturbation of microtubules in Tetrahymena thermophila by microtubule-depolymerizing or -polymerizing drugs increases the level of the single alpha-tubulin gene message by increasing transcription (L. A. Stargell, D. P. Heruth, J. Gaertig, and M. A. Gorovsky, Mol. Cell. Biol. 12:1443-1450, 1992). In this report we show that antimicrotubule drugs preferentially induce the expression of one of two beta-tubulin genes (BTU1) in T. thermophila. In contrast, deciliation induces expression of both beta-tubulin genes. Tubulin gene expression was examined in a mutant strain created by transformation with an in vitro-mutagenized beta-tubulin gene that conferred resistance to microtubule-depolymerizing drugs and sensitivity to the polymerizing drug taxol and in a strain containing a nitrosoguanidine-induced mutation in the single alpha-tubulin gene that conferred the same pattern of drug sensitivities. In both cases the levels of tubulin mRNA expression from the drug-inducible BTU1 gene in the mutant cells paralleled the altered growth sensitivities to microtubule drugs. These studies demonstrate that T. thermophila has distinct, gene-specific mechanisms for modulating tubulin gene expression depending on whether ciliary or cytoplasmic microtubules are involved. They also show that the cytoplasmic microtubule cytoskeleton itself participates in a signal transduction pathway that regulates specific tubulin gene transcription in T. thermophila.

Tandem arrangement of tubulin genes in the protozoan parasite Leishmania enriettii

1983 ◽  
Vol 3 (6) ◽  
pp. 1070-1076
Author(s):  
S M Landfear ◽  
D McMahon-Pratt ◽  
D F Wirth
Keyword(s):  
Tandem Repeat ◽  
Blot Hybridization ◽  
Protozoan Parasite ◽  
Southern Blot Hybridization ◽  
Beta Tubulin ◽  
Developmentally Regulated ◽  
Alpha Tubulin ◽  
Tubulin Genes ◽  
Southern Blot Hybridization Analysis ◽  
Leishmania Enriettii

The arrangement of developmentally regulated alpha- and beta-tubulin genes has been studied in the parasitic protozoan Leishmania enriettii by using Southern blot hybridization analysis. The alpha-tubulin genes occur in a tandem repeat whose monomeric unit may be represented by a 2-kilobase PstI fragment. Similarly, the beta-tubulin genes probably occur in a separate tandem repeat consisting of approximately 4-kilobase units unlinked to the alpha-tubulin repeats.

Dominant effects of tubulin overexpression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

1989 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 1049-1059
Author(s):  
D Burke ◽  
P Gasdaska ◽  
L Hartwell
Keyword(s):  
Saccharomyces Cerevisiae ◽  
Chromosome Loss ◽  
Beta Tubulin ◽  
Alpha Tubulin ◽  
Inducible Promoters ◽  
Selective Degradation ◽  
Novel Structure ◽  
Genes Encoding ◽  
Transient Overexpression ◽  
Mutant Phenotypes

The consequences of altering the levels of alpha- and beta-tubulin in Saccharomyces cerevisiae were examined by constructing fusions of the structural genes encoding the tubulins to strong galactose-inducible promoters. Overexpression of beta-tubulin (TUB2) was lethal: cells arrested in the G2 stage of the cell cycle exhibited an increased frequency of chromosome loss, were devoid of microtubules, and accumulated beta-tubulin in a novel structure. Overexpression of the major alpha-tubulin gene (TUB1) was not lethal and did not affect chromosome segregation. The rate of alpha-tubulin mRNA and protein synthesis was increased, but the protein did not accumulate. Overexpression of both alpha- and beta-tubulin together resulted in arrested cell division, and cells accumulated excess tubules that contained both alpha- and beta-tubulin. Transient overexpression of both tubulins resulted in a high frequency of chromosome loss. These data suggest that strong selective pressure exists to prevent excess accumulation of microtubules or beta-tubulin and suggest a model by which this goal may be achieved by selective degradation of unassembled alpha-tubulin. Furthermore, the phenotype of beta-tubulin overexpression is similar to the phenotype of a beta-tubulin deficiency. These results add to a number of recent studies demonstrating that mutant phenotypes generated by overexpression can be informative about the function of the gene product.

scholarly journals Tandem arrangement of tubulin genes in the protozoan parasite Leishmania enriettii.

1983 ◽  
Vol 3 (6) ◽  
pp. 1070-1076 ◽  
Author(s):  
S M Landfear ◽  
D McMahon-Pratt ◽  
D F Wirth
Keyword(s):  
Tandem Repeat ◽  
Blot Hybridization ◽  
Protozoan Parasite ◽  
Southern Blot Hybridization ◽  
Beta Tubulin ◽  
Developmentally Regulated ◽  
Alpha Tubulin ◽  
Tubulin Genes ◽  
Southern Blot Hybridization Analysis ◽  
Leishmania Enriettii

The arrangement of developmentally regulated alpha- and beta-tubulin genes has been studied in the parasitic protozoan Leishmania enriettii by using Southern blot hybridization analysis. The alpha-tubulin genes occur in a tandem repeat whose monomeric unit may be represented by a 2-kilobase PstI fragment. Similarly, the beta-tubulin genes probably occur in a separate tandem repeat consisting of approximately 4-kilobase units unlinked to the alpha-tubulin repeats.

scholarly journals A codon change in beta-tubulin which drastically affects microtubule structure in Drosophila melanogaster fails to produce a significant phenotype in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

1991 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 4726-4731 ◽  
Author(s):  
V Praitis ◽  
W S Katz ◽  
F Solomon
Keyword(s):  
Saccharomyces Cerevisiae ◽  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Eukaryotic Cells ◽  
Tubulin Gene ◽  
Beta Tubulin ◽  
Cell Biol ◽  
Codon Change ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Beta Tubulin Gene ◽  
Microtubule Structure

The relative uniformity of microtubule ultrastructure in almost all eukaryotic cells is thought to be a consequence of the conserved elements of tubulin sequence. In support of this idea, a mutation in a beta-tubulin gene of Drosophila melanogaster, occurring at a highly conserved position, produces U-shaped microtubules, suggesting a defect in either nucleation or packing during assembly (M. T. Fuller, J. H. Caulton, J. A. Hutchens, T. C. Kaufman, and E. C. Raff, J. Cell Biol. 104:385-394, 1987, and J. E. Rudolph, M. Kimble, H. D. Hoyle, M. A. Subler, and E. C. Raff, Mol. Cell. Biol. 7:2231-2242, 1987). Surprisingly, we find that introducing the same mutation into the sole beta-tubulin gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae has virtually no consequences for microtubule structure or function in that organism.

scholarly journals The two alpha-tubulin genes of Chlamydomonas reinhardi code for slightly different proteins.

1985 ◽  
Vol 5 (9) ◽  
pp. 2389-2398 ◽  
Author(s):  
C D Silflow ◽  
R L Chisholm ◽  
T W Conner ◽  
L P Ranum
Keyword(s):  
Amino Acid ◽  
Amino Acid Sequences ◽  
Cdna Clones ◽  
Gene Products ◽  
Beta Tubulin ◽  
Alpha Tubulin ◽  
Tubulin Genes ◽  
Total Complement ◽  
Cloned Gene ◽  
Net Charges

Full-length cDNA clones corresponding to the transcripts of the two alpha-tubulin genes in Chlamydomonas reinhardi were isolated. DNA sequence analysis of the cDNA clones and cloned gene fragments showed that each gene contains 1,356 base pairs of coding sequence, predicting alpha-tubulin products of 451 amino acids. Of the 27 nucleotide differences between the two genes, only two result in predicted amino acid differences between the two gene products. In the more divergent alpha 2 gene, a leucine replaces an arginine at amino acid 308, and a valine replaces a glycine at amino acid 366. The results predicted that two alpha-tubulin proteins with different net charges are produced as primary gene products. The predicted amino acid sequences are 86 and 70% homologous with alpha-tubulins from rat brain and Schizosaccharomyces pombe, respectively. Each gene had two intervening sequences, located at identical positions. Portions of an intervening sequence highly conserved between the two beta-tubulin genes are also found in the second intervening sequence of each of the alpha genes. These results, together with our earlier report of the beta-tubulin sequences in C. reinhardi, present a picture of the total complement of genetic information for tubulin in this organism.

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