A single Saccharomyces cerevisiae upstream activation site (UAS1) has two distinct regions essential for its activity

Several site-directed mutagenesis regimens were used to generate single- and multiple-base substitutions in the upstream activation site UAS1 of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae CYC1 gene. Mutations resulting in large reductions in activity of the site lie in two distinct regions. Six single-base changes in a region A, between -288 and -285, all resulted in a 15-fold reduction in activity. Synthetic sites built up solely of multimers of the -289 to -285 sequence ACCGA behaved as carbon catabolite-sensitive UASs. In addition, substitution mutations in a second region, at nucleotides -266 and -265, virtually eliminated UAS1 activity. These mutations abolished the binding of a heme-dependent protein factor in vitro. Thus, UAS1 contains two essential regions both of which are required for its activity.

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Prenylation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae Chs4p Affects Chitin Synthase III Activity and Chitin Chain Length

Eukaryotic Cell ◽

10.1128/ec.00203-06 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 6 (2) ◽

pp. 328-336 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Kariona A. Grabińska ◽

Paula Magnelli ◽

Phillips W. Robbins

Keyword(s):

Saccharomyces Cerevisiae ◽

Chain Length ◽

Attachment Site ◽

Chitin Synthase ◽

Yeast Cells ◽

Average Chain Length ◽

Calcofluor White ◽

Protein Factor

ABSTRACT Chs4p (Cal2/Csd4/Skt5) was identified as a protein factor physically interacting with Chs3p, the catalytic subunit of chitin synthase III (CSIII), and is indispensable for its enzymatic activity in vivo. Chs4p contains a putative farnesyl attachment site at the C-terminal end (CVIM motif) conserved in Chs4p of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and other fungi. Several previous reports questioned the role of Chs4p prenylation in chitin biosynthesis. In this study we reinvestigated the function of Chs4p prenylation. We provide evidence that Chs4p is farnesylated by showing that purified Chs4p is recognized by anti-farnesyl antibody and is a substrate for farnesyl transferase (FTase) in vitro and that inactivation of FTase increases the amount of unmodified Chs4p in yeast cells. We demonstrate that abolition of Chs4p prenylation causes a ∼60% decrease in CSIII activity, which is correlated with a ∼30% decrease in chitin content and with increased resistance to the chitin binding compound calcofluor white. Furthermore, we show that lack of Chs4p prenylation decreases the average chain length of the chitin polymer. Prenylation of Chs4p, however, is not a factor that mediates plasma membrane association of the protein. Our results provide evidence that the prenyl moiety attached to Chs4p is a factor modulating the activity of CSIII both in vivo and in vitro.

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Secretion-defective mutations in the signal sequence for Saccharomyces cerevisiae invertase

Molecular and Cellular Biology ◽

10.1128/mcb.6.7.2382-2391.1986 ◽

1986 ◽

Vol 6 (7) ◽

pp. 2382-2391

Author(s):

C A Kaiser ◽

D Botstein

Keyword(s):

Saccharomyces Cerevisiae ◽

Secretory Pathway ◽

Signal Sequence ◽

Mutant Gene ◽

Yeast Cells ◽

Molecular Weight Characteristic ◽

Cell Extracts ◽

Substitution Mutations ◽

Membrane Components

Nine mutations in the signal sequence region of the gene specifying the secreted Saccharomyces cerevisiae enzyme invertase were constructed in vitro. The consequences of these mutations were studied after returning the mutated genes to yeast cells. Short deletions and two extensive substitution mutations allowed normal expression and secretion of invertase. Other substitution mutations and longer deletions blocked the formation of extracellular invertase. Yeast cells carrying this second class of mutant gene expressed novel active internal forms of invertase that exhibited the following properties. The new internal proteins had the mobilities in denaturing gels expected of invertase polypeptides that had retained a defective signal sequence and were otherwise unmodified. The large increase in molecular weight characteristic of glycosylation was not seen. On nondenaturing gels the mutant enzymes were found as heterodimers with a normal form of invertase that is known to be cytoplasmic, showing that the mutant forms of the enzyme are assembled in the same compartment as the cytoplasmic enzyme. All of the mutant enzymes were soluble and not associated with the membrane components after fractionation of crude cell extracts on sucrose gradients. Therefore, these signal sequence mutations result in the production of active internal invertase that has lost the ability to enter the secretory pathway. This demonstrates that the signal sequence is required for the earliest steps in membrane translocation.

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Interspersion of an unusual GCN4 activation site with a complex transcriptional repression site in Ty2 elements of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Molecular and Cellular Biology ◽

10.1128/mcb.13.4.2091-2103.1993 ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 13 (4) ◽

pp. 2091-2103

Author(s):

S Türkel ◽

P J Farabaugh

Keyword(s):

Saccharomyces Cerevisiae ◽

Transcriptional Activation ◽

Binding Sites ◽

Transcriptional Repression ◽

Physiological Control ◽

Reading Frame ◽

Negative Region ◽

Activation Site

Transcription of the Ty2-917 retrotransposon of Saccharomyces cerevisiae is modulated by a complex set of positive and negative elements, including a negative region located within the first open reading frame, TYA2. The negative region includes three downstream repression sites (DRSI, DRSII, and DRSIII). In addition, the negative region includes at least two downstream activation sites (DASs). This paper concerns the characterization of DASI. A 36-bp DASI oligonucleotide acts as an autonomous transcriptional activation site and includes two sequence elements which are both required for activation. We show that these sites bind in vitro the transcriptional activation protein GCN4 and that their activity in vivo responds to the level of GCN4 in the cell. We have termed the two sites GCN4 binding sites (GBS1 and GBS2). GBS1 is a high-affinity GCN4 binding site (dissociation constant, approximately 25 nM at 30 degrees C), binding GCN4 with about the affinity of a consensus UASGCN4, this though GBS1 includes two differences from the right half of the palindromic consensus site. GBS2 is more diverged from the consensus and binds GCN4 with about 20-fold-lower affinity. Nucleotides 13 to 36 of DASI overlap DRSII. Since DRSII is a transcriptional repression site, we tested whether DASI includes repression elements. We identify two sites flanking GBS2, both of which repress transcription activated by the consensus GCN4-specific upstream activation site (UASGCN4). One of these is repeated in the 12 bp immediately adjacent to DASI. Thus, in a 48-bp region of Ty2-917 are interspersed two positive and three negative transcriptional regulators. The net effect of the region must depend on the interaction of the proteins bound at these sites, which may include their competing for binding sites, and on the physiological control of the activity of these proteins.

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Requirement of PKR Dimerization Mediated by Specific Hydrophobic Residues for Its Activation by Double-Stranded RNA and Its Antigrowth Effects in Yeast

Molecular and Cellular Biology ◽

10.1128/mcb.18.12.7009 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 18 (12) ◽

pp. 7009-7019 ◽

Cited By ~ 40

Author(s):

Rekha C. Patel ◽

Ganes C. Sen

Keyword(s):

Helical Structure ◽

Wild Type ◽

Dimerization Domain ◽

Double Stranded Rna ◽

Mutant Proteins ◽

Hydrophobic Residues ◽

Dsrna Binding ◽

Dependent Protein ◽

Substitution Mutations

ABSTRACT The roles of protein dimerization and double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) binding in the biochemical and cellular activities of PKR, the dsRNA-dependent protein kinase, were investigated. We have previously shown that both properties of the protein are mediated by the same domain. Here we show that dimerization is mediated by hydrophobic residues present on one side of an amphipathic α-helical structure within this domain. Appropriate substitution mutations of residues on that side produced mutants with increased or decreased dimerization activities. Using these mutants, we demonstrated that dimerization is not essential for dsRNA binding. However, enhancing dimerization artificially, by providing an extraneous dimerization domain, increased dsRNA binding of both wild-type and mutant proteins. In vitro, the dimerization-defective mutants could not be activated by dsRNA but were activated normally by heparin. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, unlike wild-type PKR, these mutants could not inhibit cell growth and the dsRNA-binding domain of the dimerization-defective mutants could not prevent the antigrowth effect of wild-type PKR. These results demonstrate the biological importance of the dimerization properties of PKR.

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Cloning and characterization of BCY1, a locus encoding a regulatory subunit of the cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Molecular and Cellular Biology ◽

10.1128/mcb.7.4.1371 ◽

1987 ◽

Vol 7 (4) ◽

pp. 1371-1377 ◽

Cited By ~ 313

Author(s):

T Toda ◽

S Cameron ◽

P Sass ◽

M Zoller ◽

J D Scott ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Saccharomyces Cerevisiae ◽

Protein Kinase ◽

Cyclic Amp ◽

Carbon Sources ◽

Regulatory Subunit ◽

Dependent Protein Kinase ◽

Yeast Saccharomyces Cerevisiae ◽

Regulatory Subunits ◽

Dependent Protein

We have cloned a gene (BCY1) from the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae that encodes a regulatory subunit of the cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase. The encoded protein has a structural organization similar to that of the RI and RII regulatory subunits of the mammalian cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase. Strains of S. cerevisiae with disrupted BCY1 genes do not display a cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase in vitro, fail to grow on many carbon sources, and are exquisitely sensitive to heat shock and starvation.

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ADP ribosylation factor is an essential protein in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and is encoded by two genes

Molecular and Cellular Biology ◽

10.1128/mcb.10.12.6690-6699.1990 ◽

1990 ◽

Vol 10 (12) ◽

pp. 6690-6699

Author(s):

T Stearns ◽

R A Kahn ◽

D Botstein ◽

M A Hoyt

Keyword(s):

Saccharomyces Cerevisiae ◽

Cold Sensitivity ◽

Animal Cells ◽

Gene Encoding ◽

Phenotypic Differences ◽

Adp Ribosylation ◽

Protein Factor ◽

Adp Ribosylation Factor ◽

Sublethal Concentrations

ADP ribosylation factor (ARF) is a ubiquitous 21-kDa GTP-binding protein in eucaryotes. ARF was first identified in animal cells as the protein factor required for the efficient ADP-ribosylation of the mammalian G protein Gs by cholera toxin in vitro. A gene (ARF1) encoding a protein homologous to mammalian ARF was recently cloned from Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Sewell and Kahn, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 85:4620-4624, 1988). We have found a second gene encoding ARF in S. cerevisiae, ARF2. The two ARF genes are within 28 centimorgans of each other on chromosome IV, and the proteins encoded by them are 96% identical. Disruption of ARF1 causes slow growth, cold sensitivity, and sensitivity to normally sublethal concentrations of fluoride ion in the medium. Disruption of ARF2 causes no detectable phenotype. Disruption of both genes is lethal; thus, ARF is essential for mitotic growth. The ARF1 and ARF2 proteins are functionally homologous, and the phenotypic differences between mutations in the two genes can be accounted for by the level of expression; ARF1 produces approximately 90% of total ARF. Among revertants of the fluoride sensitivity of an arf1 null mutation were ARF1-ARF2 fusion genes created by a gene conversion event in which the deleted ARF1 sequences were repaired by recombination with ARF2.

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Identification of pre-mRNA polyadenylation sites in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Molecular and Cellular Biology ◽

10.1128/mcb.12.9.4215-4229.1992 ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 12 (9) ◽

pp. 4215-4229

Author(s):

S Heidmann ◽

B Obermaier ◽

K Vogel ◽

H Domdey

Keyword(s):

Saccharomyces Cerevisiae ◽

Signal Sequence ◽

Site Directed Mutagenesis ◽

Yeast Cells ◽

Yeast Saccharomyces Cerevisiae ◽

Adh1 Gene ◽

Polyadenylation Sites ◽

Yeast Genes

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.

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Signals that produce 3' termini in CYC1 mRNA of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Molecular and Cellular Biology ◽

10.1128/mcb.13.12.7836-7849.1993 ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 13 (12) ◽

pp. 7836-7849

Author(s):

P Russo ◽

W Z Li ◽

Z Guo ◽

F Sherman

Keyword(s):

Saccharomyces Cerevisiae ◽

Site Directed Mutagenesis ◽

Yeast Cells ◽

In Vitro Mutagenesis ◽

Yeast Saccharomyces Cerevisiae ◽

Upstream Element ◽

A Site ◽

Derivatives Of ◽

Acting In Concert

The cyc1-512 mutant was previously shown to contain a 38-bp deletion, 8 nucleotides upstream from the major wild-type poly(A) site, in the CYC1 gene, which encodes iso-1-cytochrome c of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. This 38-bp deletion caused a 90% reduction in the CYC1 transcripts, which were heterogeneous in size, aberrantly long, and presumably labile (K. S. Zaret and F. Sherman, Cell 28:563-573, 1982). Site-directed mutagenesis in and adjacent to the 38-bp region was used to identify signals involved in the formation and positioning of CYC1 mRNA 3' ends. In addition, combinations of various putative 3' end-forming signals were introduced by in vitro mutagenesis into the 3' region of the cyc1-512 mutant. The combined results from both studies suggest that 3' end formation in yeast cells involves signals having the following three distinct but integrated elements acting in concert: (i) the upstream element, including sequences TATATA, TAG ... TATGTA, and TTTTTATA, which function by enhancing the efficiency of downstream elements; (ii) downstream elements, such as TTAAGAAC and AAGAA, which position the poly(A) site; and (iii) the actual site of polyadenylation, which often occurs after cytidine residues that are 3' to the so-called downstream element. While the upstream element is required for efficient 3' end formation, alterations of the downstream element and poly(A) sites generally do not affect the efficiency of 3' end formation but appear to alter the positions of poly(A) sites. In addition, we have better defined the upstream elements by examining various derivatives of TATATA and TAG ... TATGTA, and we have examined the spatial requirements of the three elements by systematically introducing or deleting upstream and downstream elements and cytidine poly(A) sites.

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Secretion-defective mutations in the signal sequence for Saccharomyces cerevisiae invertase.

Molecular and Cellular Biology ◽

10.1128/mcb.6.7.2382 ◽

1986 ◽

Vol 6 (7) ◽

pp. 2382-2391 ◽

Cited By ~ 47

Author(s):

C A Kaiser ◽

D Botstein

Keyword(s):

Saccharomyces Cerevisiae ◽

Secretory Pathway ◽

Signal Sequence ◽

Mutant Gene ◽

Yeast Cells ◽

Molecular Weight Characteristic ◽

Cell Extracts ◽

Substitution Mutations ◽

Membrane Components

Nine mutations in the signal sequence region of the gene specifying the secreted Saccharomyces cerevisiae enzyme invertase were constructed in vitro. The consequences of these mutations were studied after returning the mutated genes to yeast cells. Short deletions and two extensive substitution mutations allowed normal expression and secretion of invertase. Other substitution mutations and longer deletions blocked the formation of extracellular invertase. Yeast cells carrying this second class of mutant gene expressed novel active internal forms of invertase that exhibited the following properties. The new internal proteins had the mobilities in denaturing gels expected of invertase polypeptides that had retained a defective signal sequence and were otherwise unmodified. The large increase in molecular weight characteristic of glycosylation was not seen. On nondenaturing gels the mutant enzymes were found as heterodimers with a normal form of invertase that is known to be cytoplasmic, showing that the mutant forms of the enzyme are assembled in the same compartment as the cytoplasmic enzyme. All of the mutant enzymes were soluble and not associated with the membrane components after fractionation of crude cell extracts on sucrose gradients. Therefore, these signal sequence mutations result in the production of active internal invertase that has lost the ability to enter the secretory pathway. This demonstrates that the signal sequence is required for the earliest steps in membrane translocation.

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