Identification of regulatory regions within the Ty1 transposable element that regulate iso-2-cytochrome c production in the CYC7-H2 yeast mutant

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.

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.


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.


Genetics ◽  
1980 ◽  
Vol 94 (4) ◽  
pp. 891-898
Author(s):  
Rodney J Rothstein ◽  
Fred Sherman

ABSTRACT The CYC7-H2 mutation causes an approximately 20-fold overproduction of iso-2-cytochromo c in a and α haploid strains of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae due to an alteration in the nontranslated regulatory region that is presumably contiguous with the structural region. In this investigation, we demonstrated that heterozygosity at the mating type locus, a /α or a/a/α/α, prevents expression of the overproduction, while homozygosity, a/a and α/α and hemizygosity, a/O and α/O, allow full expression of the CYC7-H2 mutation, equivalent to the expression observed in a and α haploid strains. There is no decrease in the overproduction of iso-2-cytochrome c in a/α diploid strains containing either of the other two similar mutations, CYC7-H1 and CYC7-H3. It appears as if active expression of one or another of the mating-type alleles is required for the overproduction of iso-2-cytochrome c in CYC7-H2 mutants.


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.


1991 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 5487-5496 ◽  
Author(s):  
M E Dumont ◽  
T S Cardillo ◽  
M K Hayes ◽  
F Sherman

Heme is covalently attached to cytochrome c by the enzyme cytochrome c heme lyase. To test whether heme attachment is required for import of cytochrome c into mitochondria in vivo, antibodies to cytochrome c have been used to assay the distributions of apo- and holocytochromes c in the cytoplasm and mitochondria from various strains of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Strains lacking heme lyase accumulate apocytochrome c in the cytoplasm. Similar cytoplasmic accumulation is observed for an altered apocytochrome c in which serine residues were substituted for the two cysteine residues that normally serve as sites of heme attachment, even in the presence of normal levels of heme lyase. However, detectable amounts of this altered apocytochrome c are also found inside mitochondria. The level of internalized altered apocytochrome c is decreased in a strain that completely lacks heme lyase and is greatly increased in a strain that overexpresses heme lyase. Antibodies recognizing heme lyase were used to demonstrate that the enzyme is found on the outer surface of the inner mitochondrial membrane and is not enriched at sites of contact between the inner and outer mitochondrial membranes. These results suggest that apocytochrome c is transported across the outer mitochondrial membrane by a freely reversible process, binds to heme lyase in the intermembrane space, and is then trapped inside mitochondria by an irreversible conversion to holocytochrome c accompanied by folding to the native conformation. Altered apocytochrome c lacking the ability to have heme covalently attached accumulates in mitochondria only to the extent that it remains bound to heme lyase.


1994 ◽  
Vol 14 (8) ◽  
pp. 5412-5424
Author(s):  
C J Yoo ◽  
S L Wolin

The human autoantigen La is a 50-kDa protein which binds to the 3' termini of virtually all nascent polymerase III transcripts. Experiments with mammalian transcription extracts have led to the proposal that the La protein is required for multiple rounds of transcription by RNA polymerase III (E. Gottlieb and J. A. Steitz, EMBO J. 8:851-861, 1989; R. J. Maraia, D. J. Kenan, and J. D. Keene, Mol. Cell. Biol. 14:2147-2158, 1994). Although La protein homologs have been identified in a variety of vertebrate species, the protein has not been identified in invertebrates. In order to begin a genetic analysis of La protein function, we have characterized homologs of the La protein in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster and the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We show that both the Drosophila and yeast La proteins are bound to precursors of polymerase III RNAs in vivo. The Drosophila and yeast proteins resemble the human La protein in their biochemical properties, as both proteins can be partially purified from cells by a procedure previously devised to purify the human protein. Similarly to vertebrate La proteins, the Drosophila and yeast homologs preferentially bind RNAs that terminate with a 3' hydroxyl. Despite the fact that the La protein is conserved between humans and Saccharomyces cerevisiae, yeast cells containing a null allele of the gene encoding the La protein are viable, suggesting that another protein(s) plays a functionally redundant role.


1994 ◽  
Vol 14 (8) ◽  
pp. 5412-5424 ◽  
Author(s):  
C J Yoo ◽  
S L Wolin

The human autoantigen La is a 50-kDa protein which binds to the 3' termini of virtually all nascent polymerase III transcripts. Experiments with mammalian transcription extracts have led to the proposal that the La protein is required for multiple rounds of transcription by RNA polymerase III (E. Gottlieb and J. A. Steitz, EMBO J. 8:851-861, 1989; R. J. Maraia, D. J. Kenan, and J. D. Keene, Mol. Cell. Biol. 14:2147-2158, 1994). Although La protein homologs have been identified in a variety of vertebrate species, the protein has not been identified in invertebrates. In order to begin a genetic analysis of La protein function, we have characterized homologs of the La protein in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster and the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We show that both the Drosophila and yeast La proteins are bound to precursors of polymerase III RNAs in vivo. The Drosophila and yeast proteins resemble the human La protein in their biochemical properties, as both proteins can be partially purified from cells by a procedure previously devised to purify the human protein. Similarly to vertebrate La proteins, the Drosophila and yeast homologs preferentially bind RNAs that terminate with a 3' hydroxyl. Despite the fact that the La protein is conserved between humans and Saccharomyces cerevisiae, yeast cells containing a null allele of the gene encoding the La protein are viable, suggesting that another protein(s) plays a functionally redundant role.


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