Dominant mutations affecting expression of pH-regulated genes inYarrowia lipolytica

In the yeastYarrowia lipolytica the levels of the alkaline extracellular protease (AEP) and acid extracellular protease (AXP) are controlled by the pH of the growth medium. When the pH of growth medium is kept close to 4.0, levels of AXP are high and those of AEP are low, whereas at pH above 6.0 the opposite is true. Mutations which mimic the effects on the protease system of growth at alkaline pH have been identified in two genes,RPH1 andRPH2, inY. lipolytica. Detailed genetic studies showed that mutations in these two genes are dominant in heterozygous diploids, and that their effects are additive in haploid double mutants. These mutants show that pH regulates AEP expression independently from other metabolic signals. These mutants are not detectably affected in their growth rates, nor in internal pH homeostasis.     

Drug resistance inYarrowia lipolytica

Six strains ofYarrowia lipolytica tested here were resistant to 10–20 g erythromycin or chloramphenicol per L glycerol-agar medium. Cells tolerating 4 g chloramphenicol per L were very rare and reverted rapidly to the highest resistance. In analogy with Ery^R mutants ofKluyveromyces lactis, our strains did not grow at 36°C but did not lose their viability at that temperature. Two levels of resistance were found with oligomycin and antimycin A,i.e. 10 and 3 mg/L in the former and 10 and 2 mg/L in the latter. The higher resistance levels segregated mitotically and were, therefore, controlled extrachromosomally. The lower resistance levels showed very frequent changes from sensitivity to resistance that prevented the genetic analysis of this resistance. An almost continuous range of tolerance to <5–400 μg mucidin per L was found in populations of the strains analyzed. Newly formed Muc^R cells were established only in the presence of the antibiotic. Pure cultures of Muc^R cells showed an extremely high instability caused by their lower viability and very low growth rate in the absence of mucidin. No loss of resistance to antimycin A was found, although Ant^R cells revealed similar negative selection. Mutability Muc^S»Muc^R and Muc^R»Muc^S was higher in Ant^R cells than in Ant^S ones.     

Effect of lipids and detergents on the production and solubilization of extracellular lipase inYarrowia lipolytica

Triglycerides, oleic acid but not fatty acid-containing, nonionic detergents (Spans, Tweens) were able to stimulate the synthesis of cell-bound and soluble lipase ofYarrowia lipolytica grown in a complex medium containing citrate and urea. The optimal concentration of olive oil for induction was 0.5% (W/V). The combined effect of a high ionic strength (0.75 mol/L KCl) and of digitonin (2 mmol/L) at pH 7.6 resulted in solubilization of 80% of the cell-bound lipase and a significant activation of the enzyme. Comparison of twoY. lipolytica strains showed the effects of Mg²⁺ and Fe³⁺ concentrations in the medium on the synthesis of the enzyme to be strongly strain-dependent.     

Dimorphism inYarrowia lipolytica: Filament formation is suppressed by nitrogen starvation and inhibition of respiration

In contrast toSaccharomyces cerevisiae, nitrogen starvation inhibited formation of hyphae in liquid cultures ofY. lipolytica, while carbon source did not seem to be important for filament formation. Inhibitors of mitochondrial respiration strongly suppressed the development of hyphae, indicating that energy conversion processes, and thus carbon metabolism, may be involved. pH of the medium also strongly affected the morphology, but only in the presence of a complex nitrogen source, implying that the cells respond to altered nutrition in media with different pH rather than to pH itself. The results suggest that theXPR2 gene encodingY. lipolytica alkaline extracellular proteinase is involved in the regulation of dimorphism in this species.     

Dominant mutations regulating i-antigen expression in Tetrahymena thermophila

Two dominant mutations at the RseD locus regulating the differential expression of alternative cell surface immobilization antigens of the ciliate Tetrahymena thermophila are described. RseD1 and RseD2 express I to the exclusion of H (28 degrees C) and are leaky for I when expressing either L (15 degrees C) or T (40 degrees C). Complementation was not observed in RseD1/RseD2 heterozygotes, and in 326 testcross progeny no wild-type (micronuclear) recombinants were observed. Macronuclear recombination also was not observed. RseD is located on chromosome 5, at least 50 map units from rseB, which also regulates antigen expression. This brings to four the number of loci known to regulate antigen expression.     

Stereochemistry of the biogeneration of C-10 and C-12 gamma lactones inYarrowia lipolytica andPichia ohmeri

Summary Degradation of the C-16 and C-18 racemic hydroxy acids 1–4 to C-10 and C-12 -lactones 5–8 proceeds inYarrowia lipolytica andPichia ohmeri with opposite stereochemistry     

Dominant mutations affecting muscle structure in Caenorhabditis elegans that map near the actin gene cluster

By examining F1 progeny of mutagenized Caenorhabditis elegans larvae, we recovered several dominant mutations which affect muscle structure. Five of these new mutations resulted in phenotypes unlike the previously recognized unc-54 and unc-15 dominant alleles. Mapping studies placed all five mutations in the same small region of linkage group V. Polarized light, fluorescence and electron microscopic studies showed that a prominent feature of the disorganized myofilament lattice is the abnormal placement of thin filaments within the body wall muscle cells. Pharyngeal musculature is also affected by three of the mutations when homozygous. Of the five mutations only three are homozygous viable. All three of these have unusually high intragenic reversion rates either spontaneously (~10^?6) or after ethyl methanesulfonate mutagenesis (2 × 10^?5), suggesting that reversion occurs through loss of function mutations. No unlinked suppressor mutations were found. The dominance of the mutations, the effect on thin filaments and the reversion properties suggested that these new dominant mutations lie in a gene or genes specifying a structural component of the thin filament. The positioning of a set of three actin sequences in the same region (Files et al., 1983) led us to speculate that these mutations lie in actin genes.     

Analysis of mutations affecting Ty-mediated gene expression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Summary Yeast translocatable, Ty, elements can cause constitutive synthesis of the glucose-repressible alcohol dehydrogenase (ADHII) when inserted upstream from the 5 end of the structural gene, ADR2. These insertion mutations, ADR3 ^c, are unstable and give rise to secondary ADHII^– mutations. The majority of such mutants, adr3, can be attributed to excision of the insertion sequence, leaving behind a single copy of the -sequence which occurs as a direct repeat at the ends of the Ty elements. A few adr3 mutants appear to be generated by DNA-rearrangements in the vicinity of the Ty insertion. The occurrence of recessive mutants, tye, which are unlinked to ADR2 indicates that the constitutive expression of ADR2 caused by the Ty insertions requires the function of trans-acting genes. These results support the idea that regulation of Ty-linked ADR2 is actively mediated by the insertion sequence and is probably not due to a mere disruption of the wild-type controlling site.     

Probing for pH-regulated genes in Sinorhizobium medicae using transcriptional analysis

The low pH sensitivity of Sinorhizobium species is one of the major causes of reduced productivity of Medicago species (such as lucerne) sown in acidic soils. To investigate the pH response of an acid-tolerant Sinorhizobium medicae strain, a pool of random promoter fusions to gusA was created using minitransposon insertional mutagenesis. Acid-activated expression was identified in 11 mutants; rhizobial DNA flanking insertions in 10 mutants could be cloned and the DNA sequences obtained were used to interrogate the genome database of Sinorhizobium meliloti strain 1021. Acid activated expression was detected for fixNO, kdpC, lpiA, and phrR and for genes encoding a putative lipoprotein, two ABC-transporter components, a putative DNA ligase and a MPA1-family protein. These findings implicate cytochrome synthesis, potassium ion cycling, lipid biosynthesis and transport processes as key components of pH response in S. medicae.     

解脂耶氏酵母表达系统研究进展

解脂耶氏酵母（Yarrowia lipolytica）是非常规酵母中具代表性的一种,它底物广泛,尤其能利用有机酸（柠檬酸、异柠檬酸）,蛋白类（蛋白酶、脂肪酸、酯酶、磷酸酶、α-甘露糖苷酶、RNase）。烷烃类廉价物质作为底物分泌大量的代谢产物,自上世纪40年代被发现以来,越来越受到研究者的重视,并于上世纪90年代被开发成为一种新的酵母表达系统,用于42种异源蛋白的高效表达。综述了解脂耶氏酵母表达系统及其特点,有利于研究者从转录和翻译的水平研究异源蛋白在此菌中的表达分泌路径以及寻找到调控型启动子。     

Cloning of genes affecting capsule expression in Staphylococcus aureus strain M

Staphylococcus aureus strain M produces large amounts of capsular polysaccharide. It produces a non-encapsulated variant at a frequency of 0.01% at 37 degrees C. At high temperature (43 degrees C), the frequency of capsule loss was shown to be 1-38%. A 19 kb plasmid and a prophage were found to be carried by the M strain, but curing of these elements did not affect capsular production. To clone the capsular (cap) genes, a plasmid library of S. aureus M was constructed directly in S. aureus RN4200. The library was then infected with phage 80 alpha. After transduction of the phage lysates to a Cap- mutant derived from M strain, a recombinant plasmid was obtained which complemented the mutant to a Cap+ phenotype. Chromosomal walking experiments were used to clone additional nearby cap genes. Complementation tests using a collection of Cap- mutants showed that most of the mutants were complemented by a 19.4 kb DNA fragment, suggesting that the majority of the cap genes affecting capsule production are clustered together.     

Insertional mutagenesis in the n-alkane-assimilating yeast Yarrowia lipolytica: generation of tagged mutations in genes involved in hydrophobic substrate utilization

Tagged mutants affected in the degradation of hydrophobic compounds (HC) were generated by insertion of a zeta-URA3 mutagenesis cassette (MTC) into the genome of a zeta-free and ura3 deletion-containing strain of Yarrowia lipolytica. MTC integration occurred predominantly at random by nonhomologous recombination. A total of 8,600 Ura(+) transformants were tested by replica plating for (i) growth on minimal media with alkanes of different chain lengths (decane, dodecane, and hexadecane), oleic acid, tributyrin, or ethanol as the C source and (ii) colonial defects on different glucose-containing media (YPD, YNBD, and YNBcas). A total of 257 mutants were obtained, of which about 70 were affected in HC degradation, representing different types of non-alkane-utilizing (Alk(-)) mutants (phenotypic classes alkA to alkE) and tributyrin degradation mutants. Among Alk(-) mutants, growth defects depending on the alkane chain length were observed (alkAa to alkAc). Furthermore, mutants defective in yeast-hypha transition and ethanol utilization and selected auxotrophic mutants were isolated. Flanking borders of the integrated MTC were sequenced to identify the disrupted genes. Sequence analysis indicated that the MTC was integrated in the LEU1 locus in N083, a leucine-auxotrophic mutant, in the isocitrate dehydrogenase gene of N156 (alkE leaky), in the thioredoxin reductase gene in N040 (alkAc), and in a peroxine gene (PEX14) in N078 (alkD). This indicates that MTC integration is a powerful tool for generating and analyzing tagged mutants in Y. lipolytica.     

Mendelian and non-mendelian mutations affecting surface antigen expression in Paramecium tetraurelia.

A screening procedure was devised for the isolation of X-ray-induced mutations affecting the expression of the A immobilization antigen (i-antigen) in Paramecium tetraurelia. Two of the mutations isolated by this procedure proved to be in modifier genes. The two genes are unlinked to each other and unlinked to the structural A i-antigen gene. These are the first modifier genes identified in a Paramecium sp. that affect surface antigen expression. Another mutation was found to be a deletion of sequences just downstream from the A i-antigen gene. In cells carrying this mutation, the A i-antigen gene lies in close proximity to the end of a macronuclear chromosome. The expression of the A i-antigen is not affected in these cells, demonstrating that downstream sequences are not important for the regulation and expression of the A i-antigen gene. A stable cell line was also recovered which shows non-Mendelian inheritance of a macronuclear deletion of the A i-antigen gene. This mutant does not contain the gene in its macronucleus, but contains a complete copy of the gene in its micronucleus. In the cytoplasm of wild-type animals, the micronuclear gene is included in the developing macronucleus; in the cytoplasm of the mutant, the incorporation of the A i-antigen gene into the macronucleus is inhibited. This is the first evidence that a mechanism is available in ciliates to control the expression of a gene by regulating its incorporation into developing macronuclei.     

A pH-regulated promoter for the expression of recombinant proteins inEscherichia coli

Summary A series of plasmid vectors have been developed which allows control of recombinant gene expression by altering the pH of the growth medium. Expression is controlled by the regulatory region of thecadA gene ofE. coli. Experiments using -galactosidase as the expressed gene have resulted in an induced expression of up to 60-fold when the pH of the growth medium is lowered from pH 7 to 5.5. Expression can also be induced by switching from aerobic to anaerobic growth environment. The pH and anaerobic effects are additive boosting the expression level of -galactosidase to a dramatic value of 200 fold. Finally, the pH-induction effect is fully reversible, a unique property which allows continuous control of gene expression using exiting pH monitoring and control equipment.