scholarly journals Tightly centromere-linked gene (SPO15) essential for meiosis in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae

1986 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 158-167
Author(s):  
E Yeh ◽  
J Carbon ◽  
K Bloom

We used DNA fragments from the centromere regions of yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) chromosomes III and XI to examine the transcriptional activity within this chromosomal domain. DNA transcripts were found 200 to 300 base pairs from the 250-base-pair centromere core and lie within an ordered chromatin array. No transcripts were detected from the functional centromere region. We examined the cellular function of one of these tightly centromere-linked transcripts. (CEN11)L, by disrupting the coding sequences in vivo and analyzing the phenotype of the mutant yeast cell. Diploids heterozygous for the (CEN11)L disruption sporulated at wild-type levels, and the absence of the (CEN11)L gene product had no effect on the viability or mitotic growth of haploid cells. Diploids homozygous for the (CEN11)L disruption were unable to sporulate when induced by the appropriate nutritional cues. The mutant cells were competent for intragenic recombination and appeared to be blocked at the mononucleate stage. The temporal ordering of (CEN11)L function with respect to the sporulation mutant spo13 suggests that the (CEN11)L gene product may be required at both the first and second meiotic cell divisions. This new sporulation gene has been termed SPO15.

1986 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 158-167 ◽  
Author(s):  
E Yeh ◽  
J Carbon ◽  
K Bloom

We used DNA fragments from the centromere regions of yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) chromosomes III and XI to examine the transcriptional activity within this chromosomal domain. DNA transcripts were found 200 to 300 base pairs from the 250-base-pair centromere core and lie within an ordered chromatin array. No transcripts were detected from the functional centromere region. We examined the cellular function of one of these tightly centromere-linked transcripts. (CEN11)L, by disrupting the coding sequences in vivo and analyzing the phenotype of the mutant yeast cell. Diploids heterozygous for the (CEN11)L disruption sporulated at wild-type levels, and the absence of the (CEN11)L gene product had no effect on the viability or mitotic growth of haploid cells. Diploids homozygous for the (CEN11)L disruption were unable to sporulate when induced by the appropriate nutritional cues. The mutant cells were competent for intragenic recombination and appeared to be blocked at the mononucleate stage. The temporal ordering of (CEN11)L function with respect to the sporulation mutant spo13 suggests that the (CEN11)L gene product may be required at both the first and second meiotic cell divisions. This new sporulation gene has been termed SPO15.


1996 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 1805-1812 ◽  
Author(s):  
J Zhu ◽  
R H Schiestl

Chromosome aberrations may cause cancer and many heritable diseases. Topoisomerase I has been suspected of causing chromosome aberrations by mediating illegitimate recombination. The effects of deletion and of overexpression of the topoisomerase I gene on illegitimate recombination in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae have been studied. Yeast transformations were carried out with DNA fragments that did not have any homology to the genomic DNA. The frequency of illegitimate integration was 6- to 12-fold increased in a strain overexpressing topoisomerase I compared with that in isogenic control strains. Hot spot sequences [(G/C)(A/T)T] for illegitimate integration target sites accounted for the majority of the additional events after overexpression of topoisomerase I. These hot spot sequences correspond to sequences previously identified in vitro as topoisomerase I preferred cleavage sequences in other organisms. Furthermore, such hot spot sequences were found in 44% of the integration events present in the TOP1 wild-type strain and at a significantly lower frequency in the top1delta strain. Our results provide in vivo evidence that a general eukaryotic topoisomerase I enzyme nicks DNA and ligates nonhomologous ends, leading to illegitimate recombination.


1993 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 2697-2705
Author(s):  
R H Schiestl ◽  
M Dominska ◽  
T D Petes

When the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae was transformed with DNA that shares no homology to the genome, three classes of transformants were obtained. In the most common class, the DNA was inserted as the result of a reaction that appears to require base pairing between the target sequence and the terminal few base pairs of the transforming DNA fragment. In the second class, no such homology was detected, and the transforming DNA was integrated next to a CTT or GTT in the target; it is likely that these integration events were mediated by topoisomerase I. The final class involved the in vivo ligation of transforming DNA with nucleus-localized linear fragments of mitochondrial DNA.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Hitschler ◽  
Eckhard Boles

ABSTRACT Heterologous expression of 6-methylsalicylic acid synthase (MSAS) together with 6-MSA decarboxylase enables de novo production of the platform chemical and antiseptic additive 3-methylphenol (3-MP) in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. However, toxicity of 3-MP prevents higher production levels. In this study, we evaluated in vivo detoxification strategies to overcome limitations of 3-MP production. An orcinol-O-methyltransferase from Chinese rose hybrids (OOMT2) was expressed in the 3-MP producing yeast strain to convert 3-MP to 3-methylanisole (3-MA). Together with in situ extraction by dodecane of the highly volatile 3-MA this resulted in up to 211 mg/L 3-MA (1.7 mM) accumulation. Expression of a UDP-glycosyltransferase (UGT72B27) from Vitis vinifera led to the synthesis of up to 533 mg/L 3-MP as glucoside (4.9 mM). Conversion of 3-MP to 3-MA and 3-MP glucoside was not complete. Finally, deletion of phosphoglucose isomerase PGI1 together with methylation or glycosylation and feeding a fructose/glucose mixture to redirect carbon fluxes resulted in strongly increased product titers, with up to 897 mg/L 3-MA/3-MP (9 mM) and 873 mg/L 3-MP/3-MP as glucoside (8.1 mM) compared to less than 313 mg/L (2.9 mM) product titers in the wild type controls. The results show that methylation or glycosylation are promising tools to overcome limitations in further enhancing the biotechnological production of 3-MP.


2007 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 44
Author(s):  
Des Clark-Walker

It is well known that brewers yeast can grow by fermentation but it can also respire using mitochondria. However, damage to mitochondria can permanently block respiration. Such damaged or mutant cells can still grow, although more slowly than the wild-type, producing ?petite colonie? forms on agar plates. Remarkably, these small colonies appear spontaneously at the high frequency of 1% per generation. Indeed, petite colonie forms had frequently been observed in plated cultures of brewers or bakers yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae by a number of groups but it was not until 1949 that Boris Ephrussi and colleagues in Paris described how these mutants differed in many properties from wild-type cells. Most saliently, they were found to lack respiration, the mutation was cytoplasmic (i.e. not associated with nuclear chromosomes), and as well as occurring spontaneously mutants could be produced in high frequency by treatment with acriflavine.


1991 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 5592-5602
Author(s):  
N Sethi ◽  
M C Monteagudo ◽  
D Koshland ◽  
E Hogan ◽  
D J Burke

Previous analysis of cdc20 mutants of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae suggests that the CDC20 gene product (Cdc20p) is required for two microtubule-dependent processes, nuclear movements prior to anaphase and chromosome separation. Here we report that cdc20 mutants are defective for a third microtubule-mediated event, nuclear fusion during mating of G1 cells, but appear normal for a fourth microtubule-dependent process, nuclear migration after DNA replication. Therefore, Cdc20p is required for a subset of microtubule-dependent processes and functions at multiple stages in the life cycle. Consistent with this interpretation, we find that cdc20 cells arrested by alpha-factor or at the restrictive temperature accumulate anomalous microtubule structures, as detected by indirect immunofluorescence. The anomalous microtubule staining patterns are due to cdc20 because intragenic revertants that revert the temperature sensitivity have normal microtubule morphologies. cdc20 mutants have a sevenfold increase in the intensity of antitubulin fluorescence in intranuclear spindles compared with spindles from wild-type cells, yet the total amount of tubulin is indistinguishable by Western immunoblot analysis. This result suggests that Cdc20p modulates microtubule structure in wild-type cells either by promoting microtubule disassembly or by altering the surface of the microtubules. Finally, we cloned and sequenced CDC20 and show that it encodes a member of a family of proteins that share homology to the beta subunit of transducin.


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.


1987 ◽  
Vol 7 (10) ◽  
pp. 3678-3687 ◽  
Author(s):  
B K Haarer ◽  
J R Pringle

Budding cells of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae possess a ring of 10-nm-diameter filaments, of unknown biochemical nature, that lies just inside the plasma membrane in the neck connecting the mother cell to its bud (B. Byers and L. Goetsch, J. Cell Biol. 69:717-721, 1976). Mutants defective in any of four genes (CDC3, CDC10, CDC11, and CDC12) lack these filaments and display a pleiotropic phenotype that involves abnormal bud growth and cell-wall deposition and an inability to complete cytokinesis. We fused the cloned CDC12 gene to the Escherichia coli lacZ and trpE genes and used the resulting fusion proteins to raise polyclonal antibodies specific for the CDC12 gene product. In immunofluorescence experiments with affinity-purified antibodies, the neck region of wild-type and mutant cells stained in patterns consistent with the hypothesis that the CDC12 gene product is a constituent of the ring of 10-nm filaments. Without careful affinity purification of the CDC12-specific antibodies, these staining patterns were completely obscured by the staining of residual cell wall components in the neck by antibodies present even in the "preimmune" sera of all rabbits tested.


2009 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 1201-1212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory H. Tully ◽  
Ryuichi Nishihama ◽  
John R. Pringle ◽  
David O. Morgan

The anaphase-promoting complex (APC) is a ubiquitin ligase that controls progression through mitosis by targeting specific proteins for degradation. It is unclear whether the APC also contributes to the control of cytokinesis, the process that divides the cell after mitosis. We addressed this question in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae by studying the effects of APC mutations on the actomyosin ring, a structure containing actin, myosin, and several other proteins that forms at the division site and is important for cytokinesis. In wild-type cells, actomyosin-ring constituents are removed progressively from the ring during contraction and disassembled completely thereafter. In cells lacking the APC activator Cdh1, the actomyosin ring contracts at a normal rate, but ring constituents are not disassembled normally during or after contraction. After cytokinesis in mutant cells, aggregates of ring proteins remain at the division site and at additional foci in other parts of the cell. A key target of APCCdh1 is the ring component Iqg1, the destruction of which contributes to actomyosin-ring disassembly. Deletion of CDH1 also exacerbates actomyosin-ring disassembly defects in cells with mutations in the myosin light-chain Mlc2, suggesting that Mlc2 and the APC employ independent mechanisms to promote ring disassembly during cytokinesis.


1993 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 2697-2705 ◽  
Author(s):  
R H Schiestl ◽  
M Dominska ◽  
T D Petes

When the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae was transformed with DNA that shares no homology to the genome, three classes of transformants were obtained. In the most common class, the DNA was inserted as the result of a reaction that appears to require base pairing between the target sequence and the terminal few base pairs of the transforming DNA fragment. In the second class, no such homology was detected, and the transforming DNA was integrated next to a CTT or GTT in the target; it is likely that these integration events were mediated by topoisomerase I. The final class involved the in vivo ligation of transforming DNA with nucleus-localized linear fragments of mitochondrial DNA.


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