Nystatin effects on vacuolar function in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The effects of nystatin, a polyene antibiotic, was studied in Saccharomyces cerevisiae by isolating and characterizing nystatin-sensitive mutants. We isolated a number of nystatin-sensitive mutants by ethylmethane sulfonate mutagenesis. One of these mutants, the nss1 mutant, was characterized in detail. The mutant was sensitive to stresses such as high temperature or high concentrations of monovalent and divalent cations. The nss1 mutants showed severe vacuolar protein sorting and vacuolar morphology defects. The nss1 mutant was demonstrated to have a mutational lesion in the known VPS16 gene, which is essential for vacuolar protein sorting in S. cerevisiae. All of the vacuolar deficient mutants (vps11, vps16, vps18, and vps33) were sensitive to nystatin. Nystatin was found to cause extensive enlargement of the vacuole in wild-type S. cerevisiae cells. These results are discussed with special reference to the vacuolar function of S. cerevisiae.     

Characterization of yeast Vps33p, a protein required for vacuolar protein sorting and vacuole biogenesis.

vps33 mutants missort and secrete multiple vacuolar hydrolases and exhibit extreme defects in vacuolar morphology. Toward a molecular understanding of the role of the VPS33 gene in vacuole biogenesis, we have cloned this gene from a yeast genomic library by complementation of a temperature-sensitive vps33 mutation. Gene disruption demonstrated that VPS33 was not essential but was required for growth at high temperatures. At the permissive temperature, vps33 null mutants exhibited defects in vacuolar protein localization and vacuole morphology similar to those seen in most of the original mutant alleles. Sequence analysis revealed a putative open reading frame sufficient to encode a protein of 691 amino acids. Hydropathy analysis indicated that the deduced product of the VPS33 gene is generally hydrophilic, contains no obvious signal sequence or transmembrane domains, and is therefore unlikely to enter the secretory pathway. Polyclonal antisera raised against TrpE-Vps33 fusion proteins recognized a protein in yeast cells of the expected molecular weight, approximately 75,000. In cell fractionation studies, Vps33p behaved as a cytosolic protein. The predicted VPS33 gene product possessed sequence similarity with a number of ATPases and ATP-binding proteins specifically in their ATP-binding domains. One vps33 temperature-sensitive mutant contained a missense mutation near this region of sequence similarity; the mutation resulted in a Leu-646----Pro substitution in Vps33p. This temperature-sensitive mutant strain contained normal vacuoles at the permissive temperature but lacked vacuoles specifically in the bud at the nonpermissive temperature. Our data suggest that Vps33p acts in the cytoplasm to facilitate Golgi-to-vacuole protein delivery. We propose that as a consequence of the vps33 protein-sorting defects, abnormalities in vacuolar morphology and vacuole assembly result.     

The Class C Vps Complex Functions at Multiple Stages of the Vacuolar Transport Pathway

The Class C Vps complex, consisting of Vps11, Vps16, Vps18, and Vps33, is required for SNARE-mediated membrane fusion at the lysosome-like yeast vacuole. However, Class C vps mutants display more severe and pleiotropic phenotypes than mutants specifically defective in endosome-to-vacuole transport, suggesting that there are additional functions for the Class C Vps complex. A SNARE double mutant which is defective for both Golgi-to-endosome and endosome-to-vacuole trafficking replicates many of the phenotypes observed in Class C vps mutants. We show that genetic interactions exist between Class C vps alleles and alleles of the Class D vps group, which are defective in the docking and fusion of Golgi-derived vesicles at the endosome. Moreover, the Class D protein Vac1 was found to physically bind to the Class C Vps complex through a direct association with Vps11. Finally, using a random mutagenic screen, a temperature-conditional allele which shares many of the phenotypes of mutants which are selectively defective in Golgi-to-endosome trafficking was isolated ( vps11–3^ts ). Collectively, these results indicate that the Class C Vps complex plays essential roles in the processes of membrane docking and fusion at both the Golgi-to-endosome and endosome-to-vacuole stages of transport.     

A genomic screen for yeast vacuolar membrane ATPase mutants

V-ATPases acidify multiple organelles, and yeast mutants lacking V-ATPase activity exhibit a distinctive set of growth defects. To better understand the requirements for organelle acidification and the basis of these growth phenotypes, approximately 4700 yeast deletion mutants were screened for growth defects at pH 7.5 in 60 mm CaCl(2). In addition to 13 of 16 mutants lacking known V-ATPase subunits or assembly factors, 50 additional mutants were identified. Sixteen of these also grew poorly in nonfermentable carbon sources, like the known V-ATPase mutants, and were analyzed further. The cwh36Delta mutant exhibited the strongest phenotype; this mutation proved to disrupt a previously uncharacterized V-ATPase subunit. A small subset of the mutations implicated in vacuolar protein sorting, vps34Delta, vps15Delta, vps45Delta, and vps16Delta, caused both Vma- growth phenotypes and lower V-ATPase activity in isolated vacuoles, as did the shp1Delta mutation, implicated in both protein sorting and regulation of the Glc7p protein phosphatase. These proteins may regulate V-ATPase targeting and/or activity. Eight mutants showed a Vma- growth phenotype but no apparent defect in vacuolar acidification. Like V-ATPase-deficient mutants, most of these mutants rely on calcineurin for growth, particularly at high pH. A requirement for constitutive calcineurin activation may be the predominant physiological basis of the Vma- growth phenotype.     

A putative zinc finger protein, Saccharomyces cerevisiae Vps18p, affects late Golgi functions required for vacuolar protein sorting and efficient alpha-factor prohormone maturation.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains carrying vps18 mutations are defective in the sorting and transport of vacuolar enzymes. The precursor forms of these proteins are missorted and secreted from the mutant cells. Most vps18 mutants are temperature sensitive for growth and are defective in vacuole biogenesis; no structure resembling a normal vacuole is seen. A plasmid complementing the temperature-sensitive growth defect of strains carrying the vps18-4 allele was isolated from a centromere-based yeast genomic library. Integrative mapping experiments indicated that the 26-kb insert in this plasmid was derived from the VPS18 locus. A 4-kb minimal complementing fragment contains a single long open reading frame predicted to encode a 918-amino-acid hydrophilic protein. Comparison of the VPS18 sequence with the PEP3 sequence reported in the accompanying paper (R. A. Preston, H. F. Manolson, K. Becherer, E. Weidenhammer, D. Kirkpatrick, R. Wright, and E. W. Jones, Mol. Cell. Biol. 11:5801-5812, 1991) shows that the two genes are identical. Disruption of the VPS18/PEP3 gene (vps18 delta 1::TRP1) is not lethal but results in the same vacuolar protein sorting and growth defects exhibited by the original temperature-sensitive vps18 alleles. In addition, vps18 delta 1::TRP1 MAT alpha strains exhibit a defect in the Kex2p-dependent processing of the secreted pheromone alpha-factor. This finding suggests that vps18 mutations alter the function of a late Golgi compartment which contains Kex2p and in which vacuolar proteins are thought to be sorted from proteins destined for the cell surface. The Vps18p sequence contains a cysteine-rich, zinc finger-like motif at the COOH terminus. A mutant in which the first cysteine of this motif was changed to serine results in a temperature-conditional carboxypeptidase Y sorting defect shortly after a shift to nonpermissive conditions. We identified a similar cysteine-rich motif near the COOH terminus of another Vps protein, the Vps11/Pep5/End1 protein. Preston et al. (Mol. Cell. Biol. 11:5801-5812, 1991) present evidence that the Vps18/Pep3 protein colocalizes with the Vps11/Pep5 protein to the cytosolic face of the vacuolar membrane. Together with the similar phenotypes exhibited by both vps11 and vps18 mutants, this finding suggests that they may function at a common step during vacuolar protein sorting and that the integrity of their zinc finger motifs may be required for this function.     

Prevacuolar compartment morphology in vps mutants of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Over 60 genes have been identified that affect protein sorting to the lysosome-like vacuole in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Cells with mutations in these vacuolar protein sorting (vps) genes fall into seven general classes based upon their vacuolar morphology. Class A mutants have a morphologically wild type vacuole, while Class B mutants have a fragmented vacuole. There is no discernable vacuolar structure in Class C mutants. Class D mutants have a slightly enlarged vacuole, but Class E mutants have a normal looking vacuole with an enlarged prevacuolar compartment (PVC), which is analogous to the mammalian late endosome. Class F mutants have a wild type appearing vacuole as well as fragmented vacuolar structures. vps mutants have also been found with a tubulo-vesicular vacuole structure. vps mutant morphology is pertinent, as mutants of the same class may work together and/or have a block in the same general step in the vacuolar protein sorting pathway. We probed PVC morphology and location microscopically in live cells of several null vps mutants using a GFP fusion protein of Nhx1p, an Na(+)/H(+) exchanger normally localized to the PVC. We show that cell strains deleted for VPS proteins that have been previously shown to work together, regardless of VPS Class, have the same PVC morphology. Cell strains lacking VPS genes that have not been implicated in the same pathway show different PVC morphologies, even if the mutant strains are in the same VPS Class. These new studies indicate that PVC morphology is another tier of classification that may more accurately identify proteins that function together in vacuolar protein sorting than the original vps mutation classes.     

Distinct roles of the two VPS33 proteins in the endolysosomal system in Caenorhabditis elegans

Sec1/Munc‐18 (SM) family proteins are essential regulators in intracellular transport in eukaryotic cells. The SM protein Vps33 functions as a core subunit of two tethering complexes, class C core vacuole/endosome tethering (CORVET) and homotypic fusion and vacuole protein sorting (HOPS) in the endocytic pathway in yeast. Metazoan cells possess two Vps33 proteins, VPS33A and VPS33B, but their precise roles remain unknown. Here, we present a comparative analysis of Caenorhabditis elegans null mutants for these proteins. We found that the vps‐33.1 (VPS33A) mutants exhibited severe defects in both endocytic function and endolysosomal biogenesis in scavenger cells. Furthermore, vps‐33.1 mutations caused endocytosis defects in other tissues, and the loss of maternal and zygotic VPS‐33.1 resulted in embryonic lethality. By contrast, vps‐33.2 mutants were viable but sterile, with terminally arrested spermatocytes. The spermatogenesis phenotype suggests that VPS33.2 is involved in the formation of a sperm‐specific organelle. The endocytosis defect in the vps‐33.1 mutant was not restored by the expression of VPS‐33.2, which indicates that these proteins have nonredundant functions. Together, our data suggest that VPS‐33.1 shares most of the general functions of yeast Vps33 in terms of tethering complexes in the endolysosomal system, whereas VPS‐33.2 has tissue/organelle specific functions in C. elegans.      

A genetic screen in zebrafish identifies the mutants vps18, nf2 and foie gras as models of liver disease

Hepatomegaly is a sign of many liver disorders. To identify zebrafish mutants to serve as models for hepatic pathologies, we screened for hepatomegaly at day 5 of embryogenesis in 297 zebrafish lines bearing mutations in genes that are essential for embryonic development. Seven mutants were identified, and three have phenotypes resembling different liver diseases. Mutation of the class C vacuolar protein sorting gene vps18 results in hepatomegaly associated with large, vesicle-filled hepatocytes, which we attribute to the failure of endosomal-lysosomal trafficking. Additionally, these mutants develop defects in the bile canaliculi and have marked biliary paucity, suggesting that vps18 also functions to traffic vesicles to the hepatocyte apical membrane and may play a role in the development of the intrahepatic biliary tree. Similar findings have been reported for individuals with arthrogryposis-renal dysfunction-cholestasis (ARC) syndrome, which is due to mutation of another class C vps gene. A second mutant, resulting from disruption of the tumor suppressor gene nf2, develops extrahepatic choledochal cysts in the common bile duct, suggesting that this gene regulates division of biliary cells during development and that nf2 may play a role in the hyperplastic tendencies observed in biliary cells in individuals with choledochal cysts. The third mutant is in the novel gene foie gras, which develops large, lipid-filled hepatocytes, resembling those in individuals with fatty liver disease. These mutants illustrate the utility of zebrafish as a model for studying liver development and disease, and provide valuable tools for investigating the molecular pathogenesis of congenital biliary disorders and fatty liver disease.     

Morphological classification of the yeast vacuolar protein sorting mutants: evidence for a prevacuolar compartment in class E vps mutants.

The collection of vacuolar protein sorting mutants (vps mutants) in Saccharomyces cerevisiae comprises of 41 complementation groups. The vacuoles in these mutant strains were examined using immunofluorescence microscopy. Most of the vps mutants were found to possess vacuolar morphologies that differed significantly from wild-type vacuoles. Furthermore, mutants representing independent vps complementation groups were found to share aberrant morphological features. Six distinct classes of vacuolar morphology were observed. Mutants from eight vps complementation groups were defective both for vacuolar segregation from mother cells into developing buds and for acidification of the vacuole. Another group of mutants, represented by 13 complementation groups, accumulated a novel organelle distinct from the vacuole that contained a late-Golgi protein, active vacuolar H(+)-ATPase complex, and soluble vacuolar hydrolases. We suggest that this organelle may represent an exaggerated endosome-like compartment. None of the vps mutants appeared to mislocalize significant amounts of the vacuolar membrane protein alkaline phosphatase. Quantitative immunoprecipitations of the soluble vacuolar hydrolase carboxypeptidase Y (CPY) were performed to determine the extent of the sorting defect in each vps mutant. A good correlation between morphological phenotype and the extent of the CPY sorting defect was observed.     

Genome-wide screen for oxalate-sensitive mutants of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Oxalic acid is an important virulence factor produced by phytopathogenic filamentous fungi. In order to discover yeast genes whose orthologs in the pathogen may confer self-tolerance and whose plant orthologs may protect the host, a Saccharomyces cerevisiae deletion library consisting of 4,827 haploid mutants harboring deletions in nonessential genes was screened for growth inhibition and survival in a rich medium containing 30 mM oxalic acid at pH 3. A total of 31 mutants were identified that had significantly lower cell yields in oxalate medium than in an oxalate-free medium. About 35% of these mutants had not previously been detected in published screens for sensitivity to sorbic or citric acid. Mutants impaired in endosomal transport, the rgp1Delta, ric1Delta, snf7Delta, vps16Delta, vps20Delta, and vps51Delta mutants, were significantly overrepresented relative to their frequency among all verified yeast open reading frames. Oxalate exposure to a subset of five mutants, the drs2Delta, vps16Delta, vps51Delta, ric1Delta, and rib4Delta mutants, was lethal. With the exception of the rib4Delta mutant, all of these mutants are impaired in vesicle-mediated transport. Indirect evidence is provided suggesting that the sensitivity of the rib4Delta mutant, a riboflavin auxotroph, is due to oxalate-mediated interference with riboflavin uptake by the putative monocarboxylate transporter Mch5.     

Candida albicans VPS11 is required for vacuole biogenesis and germ tube formation

The Candida albicans vacuole has previously been observed to undergo rapid expansion during the emergence of a germ tube from a yeast cell, to occupy the majority of the parent yeast cell. Furthermore, the yeast-to-hypha switch has been implicated in the virulence of this organism. The class C vps (vacuolar protein sorting) mutants of Saccharomyces cerevisiae are defective in multiple protein delivery pathways to the vacuole and prevacuole compartment. In this study C. albicans homologues of the S. cerevisiae class C VPS genes have been identified. Deletion of a C. albicans VPS11 homologue resulted in a number of phenotypes that closely resemble those of the class C vps mutants of S. cerevisiae, including the absence of a vacuolar compartment. The C. albicans vps11Delta mutant also had much-reduced secreted lipase and aspartyl protease activities. Furthermore, vps11Delta strains were defective in yeast-hypha morphogenesis. Upon serum induction of filamentous growth, mutants showed delayed emergence of germ tubes, had a reduced apical extension rate compared to those of control strains, and were unable to form mature hyphae. These results suggest that Vps11p-mediated trafficking steps are necessary to support the rapid emergence and extension of the germ tube from the parent yeast cell.     

Novel Golgi to vacuole delivery pathway in yeast: identification of a sorting determinant and required transport component.

More than 40 vacuolar protein sorting (vps) mutants have been identified which secrete proenzyme forms of soluble vacuolar hydrolases to the cell surface. A subset of these mutants has been found to show selective defects in the sorting of two vacuolar membrane proteins. Under non-permissive conditions, vps45tsf (SEC1 homolog) and pep12/vps6tsf (endosomal t-SNARE) mutants efficiently sort alkaline phosphatase (ALP) to the vacuole while multiple soluble vacuolar proteins and the membrane protein carboxypeptidase yscS (CPS) are no longer delivered to the vacuole. Vacuolar localization of ALP in these mutants does not require transport to the plasma membrane followed by endocytic uptake, as double mutants of pep12tsf and vps45tsf with sec1 and end3 sort and mature ALP at the non-permissive temperature. Given the demonstrated role of t-SNAREs such as Pep12p in transport vesicle recognition, our results indicate that ALP and CPS are packaged into distinct transport intermediates. Consistent with ALP following an alternative route to the vacuole, isolation of a vps41tsf mutant revealed that at non-permissive temperature ALP is mislocalized while vacuolar delivery of CPS and CPY is maintained. A series of domain-swapping experiments was used to define the sorting signal that directs selective packaging and transport of ALP. Our data demonstrate that the amino-terminal 16 amino acid portion of the ALP cytoplasmic tail domain contains a vacuolar sorting signal which is responsible for the active recognition, packaging and transport of ALP from the Golgi to the vacuole via a novel delivery pathway.     

Color reversion of the albino medaka fish associated with spontaneous somatic excision of the Tol-1 transposable element from the tyrosinase gene

The medaka fish albino mutant, i(1) is one of the Tomita collection of medaka pigmentation mutants which exhibits a complete albino phenotype, because of inactivation of the tyrosinase gene due to insertion of a transposable element, Tol-1. Recently, mosaic black-pigmented i(1) medaka fish have arisen in one of our laboratory breeding populations. Their pigmented cells have been observed in all of the tissues, including the eye and skin, in which melanin is detectable in the wild type. In this study, we analyzed the tyrosinase gene of revertants and showed Tol-1 to have been precisely excised from the gene, suggesting a causal relationship. Mosaic patterns of pigmentation indicate spontaneous somatic excision of the element from the tyrosinase gene. To our knowledge, this is the first transposable element with somatic excision activity demonstrated phenotypically in vertebrates. The pattern of pigmentation in mosaic revertants indicates frequencies of melanin pigments to be consistent with the numbers of melanophores per unit area of body sites, such as the eyes, head and dorsal trunk.     

The Candida albicans vacuole is required for differentiation and efficient macrophage killing

Yeast-hypha differentiation is believed to be necessary for the normal progression of Candida albicans infections. The emergence and extension of a germ tube from a parental yeast cell are accompanied by dynamic changes in vacuole size and morphology. Although vacuolar function is required during this process, it is unclear if it is vacuolar expansion or some other vacuolar function that is important. We previously described a C. albicans vps11Delta mutant which lacked a recognizable vacuole compartment and with defects in multiple vacuolar functions. These include sensitivities to stress, reduced proteolytic activities, and severe defects in filamentation. Herein we utilize a partially functional VPS11 allele (vps11hr) to help define which vacuolar functions are required for differentiation and which influence interaction with macrophages. Mutant strains harboring this allele are not osmotically or temperature sensitive and have normal levels of secreted aspartyl protease and carboxypeptidase Y activity but have a fragmented vacuole morphology. Moreover, this mutant is defective in filamentation, suggesting that the major role the vacuole plays in yeast-hypha differentiation may relate directly to its morphology. The results of this study support the hypothesis that vacuole expansion is required during germ tube emergence. Both vps11 mutants were severely attenuated in their ability to kill a macrophage cell line. The viability of the vps11delta mutant was significantly reduced during macrophage interaction compared to that in the control strains, while the vps11hr mutant was unaffected. This implies some vacuolar functions are required for Candida survival within the macrophage, while additional vacuolar functions are required to inflict injury on the macrophage.     

The Sec1/Munc18 protein, Vps33p, functions at the endosome and the vacuole of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The Sec1/Munc18 (SM) family of proteins is thought to impart compartmental specificity to vesicle fusion reactions. Here we report characterization of Vps33p, an SM family member previously thought to act exclusively at the vacuolar membrane with the vacuolar syntaxin Vam3p. Vacuolar morphology of vps33Delta cells resembles that of cells lacking both Vam3p and the endosomal syntaxin Pep12p, suggesting that Vps33p may function with these syntaxins at the vacuole and the endosome. Consistent with this, vps33 mutants secrete the Golgi precursor form of the vacuolar hydrolase CPY into the medium. We also demonstrate that Vps33p acts at other steps, for vps33 mutants show severe defects in endocytosis at the late endosome. At the endosome, Vps33p and other class C members exist as a complex with Vps8p, a protein previously known to act in transport between the late Golgi and the endosome. Vps33p also interacts with Pep12p, a known interactor of the SM protein Vps45p. High copy PEP7/VAC1 suppresses vacuolar morphology defects of vps33 mutants. These findings demonstrate that Vps33p functions at multiple trafficking steps and is not limited to action at the vacuolar membrane. This is the first report demonstrating the involvement of a single syntaxin with two SM proteins at the same organelle.     

An endosome-to-plasma membrane pathway involved in trafficking of a mutant plasma membrane ATPase in yeast

The plasma membrane ATPase, encoded by PMA1, is delivered to the cell surface via the secretory pathway. Previously, we characterized a temperature-sensitive pma1 mutant in which newly synthesized Pma1-7 is not delivered to the plasma membrane but is mislocalized instead to the vacuole at 37 degrees C. Several vps mutants, which are defective in vacuolar protein sorting, suppress targeting-defective pma1 by allowing mutant Pma1 to move once again to the plasma membrane. In this study, we have analyzed trafficking in the endosomal system by monitoring the movement of Pma1-7 in vps36, vps1, and vps8 mutants. Upon induction of expression, mutant Pma1 accumulates in the prevacuolar compartment in vps36 cells. After chase, a fraction of newly synthesized Pma1-7 is delivered to the plasma membrane. In both vps1 and vps8 cells, newly synthesized mutant Pma1 appears in small punctate structures before arrival at the cell surface. Nevertheless, biosynthetic membrane traffic appears to follow different routes in vps8 and vps1: the vacuolar protein-sorting receptor Vps10p is stable in vps8 but not in vps1. Furthermore, a defect in endocytic delivery to the vacuole was revealed in vps8 (and vps36) but not vps1 by endocytosis of the bulk membrane marker FM 4-64. Moreover, in vps8 cells, there is defective down-regulation from the cell surface of the mating receptor Ste3, consistent with persistent receptor recycling from an endosomal compartment to the plasma membrane. These data support a model in which mutant Pma1 is diverted from the Golgi to the surface in vps1 cells. We hypothesize that in vps8 and vps36, in contrast to vps1, mutant Pma1 moves to the surface via endosomal intermediates, implicating an endosome-to-surface traffic pathway.     

VPS9a, the common activator for two distinct types of Rab5 GTPases, is essential for the development of Arabidopsis thaliana

Rab5, a subfamily of Rab GTPases, regulates a variety of endosomal functions as a molecular switch. Arabidopsis thaliana has two different types of Rab5-member GTPases: conventional type, ARA7 and RHA1, and a plant-specific type, ARA6. We found that only one guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF), named VPS9a, can activate all Rab5 members to GTP-bound forms in vitro in spite of their diverged structures. In the vps9a-1 mutant, whose GEF activity is completely lost, embryogenesis was arrested at the torpedo stage. Green fluorescent protein (GFP)-ARA7 and ARA6-GFP were diffused in cytosol like GDP-fixed mutants of Rab5 in vps9a-1, indicating that both types of GTPase are regulated by VPS9a. In the leaky vps9a-2 mutant, elongation of the primary root was severely affected. Overexpression of the GTP-fixed form of ARA7 suppressed the vps9a-2 mutation, but overexpression of ARA6 had no apparent effects. These results indicate that the two types of plant Rab5 members are functionally differentiated, even though they are regulated by the same activator, VPS9a.     

NMR structures of two variants of bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor (BPTI) reveal unexpected influence of mutations on protein structure and stability

Here we determined NMR solution structures of two mutants of bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor (BPTI) to reveal structural reasons of their decreased thermodynamic stability. A point mutation, A16V, in the solvent-exposed loop destabilizes the protein by 20 degrees C, in contrast to marginal destabilization observed for G, S, R, L or W mutants. In the second mutant introduction of eight alanine residues at proteinase-contacting sites (residues 11, 13, 17, 18, 19, 34, 37 and 39) provides a protein that denatures at a temperature about 30 degrees C higher than expected from additive behavior of individual mutations. In order to efficiently determine structures of these variants, we applied a procedure that allows us to share data between regions unaffected by mutation(s). NOAH/DYANA and CNS programs were used for a rapid assignment of NOESY cross-peaks, structure calculations and refinement. The solution structure of the A16V mutant reveals no conformational change within the molecule, but shows close contacts between V16, I18 and G36/G37. Thus, the observed 4.3kcal/mol decrease of stability results from a strained local conformation of these residues caused by introduction of a beta-branched Val side-chain. Contrary to the A16V mutation, introduction of eight alanine residues produces significant conformational changes, manifested in over a 9A shift of the Y35 side-chain. This structural rearrangement provides about 6kcal/mol non-additive stabilization energy, compared to the mutant in which G37 and R39 are not mutated to alanine residues.     

Yeast mutants affecting possible quality control of plasma membrane proteins

Mutations gef1, stp22, STP26, and STP27 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae were identified as suppressors of the temperature-sensitive alpha-factor receptor (mutation ste2-3) and arginine permease (mutation can1(ts)). These suppressors inhibited the elimination of misfolded receptors (synthesized at 34 degrees C) as well as damaged surface receptors (shifted from 22 to 34 degrees C). The stp22 mutation (allelic to vps23 [M. Babst and S. Emr, personal communication] and the STP26 mutation also caused missorting of carboxypeptidase Y, and ste2-3 was suppressed by mutations vps1, vps8, vps10, and vps28 but not by mutation vps3. In the stp22 mutant, both the mutant and the wild-type receptors (tagged with green fluorescent protein [GFP]) accumulated within an endosome-like compartment and were excluded from the vacuole. GFP-tagged Stp22p also accumulated in this compartment. Upon reaching the vacuole, cytoplasmic domains of both mutant and wild-type receptors appeared within the vacuolar lumen. Stp22p and Gef1p are similar to tumor susceptibility protein TSG101 and voltage-gated chloride channel, respectively. These results identify potential elements of plasma membrane quality control and indicate that cytoplasmic domains of membrane proteins are translocated into the vacuolar lumen.