A specific alkaline phosphatase from Saccharomyces cerevisiae with protein phosphatase activity

In this paper, specific PHO13 alkaline phosphatase from Saccharomyces cerevisiae was demonstrated to possess phosphoprotein phosphatase activity on the phosphoseryl proteins histone II-A and casein. The enzyme is a monomeric protein with molecular mass of 60 kDa and hydrolyzes p-nitrophenyl phosphate with maximal activity at pH 8.2 with strong dependence on Mg²⁺ ions and an apparent K_m of 3.6×10⁻⁵ M. No other substrates tested except phosphorylated histone II-A and casein were hydrolyzed at any significant rate. These data suggest that the physiological role of the p-nitrophenyl phosphate-specific phosphatase may involve participation in reversible protein phosphorylation.     

A new pathway for protein export in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Several physiologically important proteins lack a classical secretory signal sequence, yet they are secreted from cells. To investigate the secretion mechanism of such proteins, a representative mammalian protein that is exported by a nonclassical mechanism, galectin-1, has been expressed in yeast. Galectin-1 is exported across the yeast plasma membrane, and this export does not require the classical secretory pathway nor the yeast multidrug resistance-like protein Ste6p, the transporter for the peptide a factor. A screen for components of the export machinery has identified genes that are involved in nonclassical export. These findings demonstrate a new pathway for protein export that is distinct from the classical secretory pathway in yeast.     

Protein O-glycosylation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Purification and characterization of the dolichyl-phosphate-D-mannose-protein O-D-mannosyltransferase

The enzyme dolichyl-phosphate-D-mannose:protein O-D-mannosyltransferase has been solubilized from Saccharomyces cerevisiae membranes and its mannosyltransferase activity demonstrated using short peptides. The specific activity of the protein was enriched 130-fold before it was further purified by native and SDS gel chromatography. A 92-kDa band correlated well with the enzyme activity; an antibody raised against this protein precipitated the mannosyltransferase. The 92-kDa band was hydrolysed to 84 kDa after treatment with endoglycosidase F, indicating that the protein is a glycoprotein which may contain four carbohydrate chains. The purified mannosyltransferase is distinctly influenced in transfer specificity by amino acids next to serine and threonine within the acceptor peptides. Thus acidic amino acids strongly inhibit acceptor activity as do glycine and proline residues as amino-terminal and carboxy-terminal neighbours, respectively.     

Dynamics of foreign protein secretion from Saccharomyces cerevisiae

A mathematical model describing the dynamics of foreign protein secretion from yeast cells is developed. The secretion events, which are a series of complicated enzymatic reactions and carrier-involved transport, are lumped to a practically applicable model structure, based on the major interactions between the heterologous polypeptides and the host cell's secretory machinery through the pathway. The developed model structure predicts that the secretion rate constant is represented as a saturated form with respect to the host cell's specific growth rate. The validity of the proposed model structure is tested by generating dynamic response data to a step input of cycloheximide. The model system used in the experiment is SEY2102-s21, which has an integrated copy of a yeast secretion-mutant invertase that simulates well typical gene cassettes designed to secrete mature foreign proteins utilizing the yeast cell's secretion signals. Protein quantification is done by gel electrophoresis followed by immuno-blot on nitrocellulose filters and subsequent scanning with a reflectance densitometer. Experimental data confirm the proposed model structure.     

Guanosine 3':5'-cyclic monophosphate-dependent particulate protein kinase activity from yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae)

Continuing our studies on cGMP in growing yeast we detected a particulate cGMP dependent protein kinase (Pk-G), which was solubilized by detergents and NaCl. It achieves maximum activity at 25 degrees C and pH = 6.8, high concentrations of substrate proteins or cGMP produce saturation. Casein and histones are appropriate substrates, phosphatase-pretreated histone H-2a provokes outstandingly high activity. Pk-G differs from cAMP-dependent protein kinase (Pk-A) with respect to pH optimum, temperature tolerance above 50 degrees C, and stability. Partial purification is achieved by chromatography with DEAE-cellulose, Sepharose, and cGMP-substituted Sepharose. The latter step also markedly removes Pk-A. At least three proteins with Pk-G-activity and high cGMP-affinity are separated by polyacrylamide-gel-electrophoresis. Their apparent molecular masses, as deduced from comigrating marker proteins, differ considerably from those of other Pk-G's, but also of Pk-A's.     

Isolation of a thiamine-binding protein from Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Thiamine-binding protein was isolated from Saccharomyces cerevisiae by successive procedures of cold osmotic shock treatment, DEAE-cellulose chromatography and ultrafiltration. The purified thiamine-binding protein was an electrophoretically homogeneous molecule which appeared to be a glycoprotein with a molecular weight of 140 000 by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. No thiamine-binding protein was observed by disc gel electrophoresis in the shock fluid released from yeast cells grown in the presence of 1 muM thiamine, indicating that the formation of this protein is regulated by exogenous thiamine as previously suggested.     

The ADE2 gene from Saccharomyces cerevisiae: sequence and new vectors

We have determined the sequence of a DNA fragment encoding the ADE2 gene from Saccharomyces cerevisiae. A DNA fragment of 2241 bp capable of complementing ade2 mutations was modified so it is available as a single BglII fragment for use in yeast vectors or for gene disruptions. The minimal fragment codes for a putative protein which is highly similar to the protein encoded by the ADE6 gene from Schizosaccharomyces pombe and to the proteins encoded by the purEK operon of Escherichia coli.     

A novel calcineurin-independent activity of cyclosporin A in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Fungi rely on regulatory networks to coordinate sensing of environmental stress with initiation of responses crucial for survival. Antifungal drugs are a specific type of environmental stress with broad clinical relevance. Small molecules with antifungal activity are ubiquitous in the environment, and are produced by a myriad of microbes in competitive natural communities. The echinocandins are fungal fermentation products and the most recently developed class of antifungals, with those in clinical use being semisynthetic derivatives that target the fungal cell wall by inhibiting 1,3-β-D-glucan synthase. Recent studies implicate the protein phosphatase calcineurin as a key regulator of cellular stress responses required for fungal survival of echinocandin-induced cell wall stress. Pharmacological inhibition of calcineurin can be achieved using the natural product and immunosuppressive drug cyclosporin A, which inhibits calcineurin by binding to the immunophilin Cpr1. This drug-protein complex inhibits the interaction between the regulatory and catalytic subunits of calcineurin, an interaction necessary for calcineurin function. Here, we report on potent activity of cyclosporin A when combined with the echinocandin micafungin against the model yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae that is independent of its known mechanism of action of calcineurin inhibition. This calcineurin-independent synergy does not involve any of the 12 immunophilins known in yeast, individually or in combination, and is not mediated by any of the multidrug transporters encoded or controlled by YOR1, SNQ2, PDR5, PDR10, PDR11, YCF1, PDR15, ADP1, VMR1, NFT1, BPT1, YBT1, YNR070w, YOL075c, AUS1, PDR12, PDR1 and/or PDR3. Genome-wide haploinsufficiency profiling (HIP) and homozygous deletion profiling (HOP) strongly implicate the cell wall biosynthesis and integrity pathways as being central to the calcineurin-independent activity of cyclosporin A. Thus, systems level chemical genomic approaches implicate key cellular pathways in a novel mechanism of antifungal drug synergy.     

A single-cell assay of beta-galactosidase activity in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

A novel assay of single-cell exogenous beta-galactosidase activity in Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been developed. Intracellular fluorescence due to the hydrolysis of resorufin-beta-D-galactopyranoside attains a steady state between production of resorufin and its subsequent leakage from the cell. The cells are permeabilized with Triton X-100, and the assay is performed at 0 degrees C. These conditions were chosen to minimize intercellular fluorescence communication. Free resorufin in the extracellular space is bound by bovine serum albumin to prevent its uptake by cells. Two regimes of fluorescence accumulation are observed, one limited by the rate of diffusion of substrate into the cell, and one limited by the rate of enzymatic cleavage of the substrate. A quantitative correlation between fluorescence and beta-galactosidase activity is obtained under optimized assay conditions.     

A new Saccharomyces cerevisiae mnn mutant N-linked oligosaccharide structure

We find that the N-linked Man8GlcNAc2- core oligosaccharide of Saccharomyces cerevisiae mnn mutant mannoproteins is enlarged by the addition of the outer chain to the alpha 1----3-linked mannose in the side chain that is attached to the beta 1----4-linked mannose rather than by addition to the terminal alpha 1----6-linked mannose. This conclusion is derived from structural studies on a phosphorylated oligosaccharide fraction and from mass spectral fragment analysis of neutral core oligosaccharides.     

Phosphorylation and regulation of choline kinase from Saccharomyces cerevisiae by protein kinase A

The CKI1-encoded choline kinase (ATP:choline phosphotransferase, EC 2.7.1.32) from Saccharomyces cerevisiae was phosphorylated in vivo on multiple serine residues. Activation of protein kinase A activity in vivo resulted in a transient increase in the phosphorylation of choline kinase. This phosphorylation was accompanied by a stimulation in choline kinase activity. In vitro, protein kinase A phosphorylated choline kinase on a serine residue with a stoichiometry (0.44 mol of phosphate/mol of choline kinase) consistent with one phosphorylation site/choline kinase subunit. The major phosphopeptide derived from the enzyme phosphorylated in vitro by protein kinase A was common to one of the major phosphopeptides derived from the enzyme phosphorylated in vivo. Protein kinase A activity was dose- and time-dependent and dependent on the concentrations of ATP (Km 2.1 microM) and choline kinase (Km 0.12 microM). Phosphorylation of choline kinase with protein kinase A resulted in a stimulation (1.9-fold) in choline kinase activity whereas alkaline phosphatase treatment of choline kinase resulted in a 60% decrease in choline kinase activity. The mechanism of the protein kinase A-mediated stimulation in choline kinase activity involved an increase in the apparent Vmax values with respect to ATP (2.6-fold) and choline (2.7-fold). Overall, the results reported here were consistent with the conclusion that choline kinase was regulated by protein kinase A phosphorylation.     

Phosphatidylglycerophosphate synthase activity in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Cytidine 5'-diphospho-1,2-diacyl-sn-glycerol (CDP-diacylglycerol): sn-glycerol-3-phosphate phosphatidyltransferase (phosphatidylglycerophosphate synthase, EC 2.7.8.5) activity was characterized from the mitochondrial fraction of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The pH optimum for the reaction was 7.0. Maximum activity was dependent on manganese (0.1 mM), magnesium (0.3 mM), or cobalt (1 mM) ions and the nonionic detergent Triton X-100 (1 mM). The apparent Km values for CDP-diacylglycerol and glycerol-3-phosphate were 33 and 27 microM, respectively. Optimal activity was at 30 degrees C with an energy of activation of 5.4 kcal/mol (1 cal = 4.1868 J). Phosphatidylglycerophosphate synthase activity was thermally labile above 40 degrees C. p-Chloromecuriphenylsulfonic acid, N-ethylmaleimide, and mercurous ions inhibited activity. Phosphatidylglycerophosphate synthase activity was partially solubilized from the mitochondrial fraction with 1% Triton X-100.     

Base mismatch-specific endonuclease activity in extracts from Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

An endonuclease activity (called MS-nicking) for all possible base mismatches has been detected in the extracts of yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. DNAs with twelve possible base mismatches at one defined position are cleaved at different efficiencies. DNA fragments with A/G, G/A, T/G, G/T, G/G, or A/A mismatches are nicked with greater efficiencies than C/T, T/C, C/A, and C/C. DNA with an A/C or T/T mismatch is nicked with an intermediate efficiency. The MS-nicking is only on one particular DNA strand, and this strand disparity is not controlled by methylation, strand break, or nature of the mismatch. The nicks have been mapped at 2-3 places at second, third, and fourth phosphodiester bonds 5' to the mispaired base; from the time course study, the fourth phosphodiester bond probably is the primary incision site. This activity may be involved in mismatch repair during genetic recombination.     

Phosphorylated fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase dephosphorylating protein phosphatase from Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Phosphorylation of fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase with cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase from yeast is accompanied by a 50% decrease in the catalytic activity (Pohlig, G. and Holzer, H. (1985) J. Biol. Chem. 260, 13818-13823). Using reactivation of phoshorylated fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase as assay, a protein phosphatase was about 2,000-fold purified to electrophoretic homogeneity from Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Upon incubation with phosphorylated fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase the purified protein phosphatase not only reverses the 50% inactivation caused by phosphorylation, but also the previously observed change in the pH optimum and in the ratio of activity with Mg2+ or Mn2+. The phosphatase is strongly inhibited by heparin and fluoride. L-Carnitine, orthophosphate, pyrophosphate, and succinate inhibit to 50% at concentrations from 1 to 10 mM. The molecular mass of the native phosphatase was found to be 180,000 Da. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-gel electrophoresis suggested four subunits with a molecular mass of 45,000 Da each. Half-maximal activity was observed with 5 mM Mg2+ or Mn2+, the pH optimum of activity was found at pH 7. Using polyclonal antibodies, disappearance of 32P-labeled fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase and concomitant liberation of the expected amount of inorganic [32P] phosphate was demonstrated.