The Spheroplast Lysis Assay for Yeast in Microtiter Plate Format

A yeast lysis assay in the microtiter plate format improved precision and throughput and led to an improved algorithm for estimating lag time. The assay reproducibly revealed differences of 10% or greater in the maximal lysis rate and 50% or greater in the lag time. Clonal differences were determined to be the major source of variation. Microtiter-based assays should be useful for screening for drug susceptibility and for analyzing mutant phenotypes.     

High-throughput Yeast Plasmid Overexpression Screen

The budding yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, is a powerful model system for defining fundamental mechanisms of many important cellular processes, including those with direct relevance to human disease. Because of its short generation time and well-characterized genome, a major experimental advantage of the yeast model system is the ability to perform genetic screens to identify genes and pathways that are involved in a given process. Over the last thirty years such genetic screens have been used to elucidate the cell cycle, secretory pathway, and many more highly conserved aspects of eukaryotic cell biology ^1-5. In the last few years, several genomewide libraries of yeast strains and plasmids have been generated ^6-10. These collections now allow for the systematic interrogation of gene function using gain- and loss-of-function approaches ^11-16. Here we provide a detailed protocol for the use of a high-throughput yeast transformation protocol with a liquid handling robot to perform a plasmid overexpression screen, using an arrayed library of 5,500 yeast plasmids. We have been using these screens to identify genetic modifiers of toxicity associated with the accumulation of aggregation-prone human neurodegenerative disease proteins. The methods presented here are readily adaptable to the study of other cellular phenotypes of interest.Download video file.^{(52M, mov)}     

一种简便的适用于酵母双杂交系统的酵母质粒提取方法

目的:建立一种适用于酵母双杂交系统的简便快捷的酵母质粒提取方法。方法:以酿酒酵母为供试材料,用玻璃珠振荡法破除酵母细胞壁,提取酵母总DNA,最后通过电转化大肠杆菌DH10B获得目的质粒。结果:粗提得到的质粒可直接转化DH10B,作为模板用于PCR分析及酵母双杂交后续的序列分析等,大大降低了工作量。结论:该方法简便快捷,经济实用,降低了成本,提高了效率,可以作为一种实验室酵母质粒提取方法。     

Global Gene Expression Analysis of Yeast Cells during Sake Brewing

During the brewing of Japanese sake, Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells produce a high concentration of ethanol compared with other ethanol fermentation methods. We analyzed the gene expression profiles of yeast cells during sake brewing using DNA microarray analysis. This analysis revealed some characteristics of yeast gene expression during sake brewing and provided a scaffold for a molecular level understanding of the sake brewing process.     

Transformability of Group H Streptococcus Challis

From a wild type strain Challis of the group H streptococcus, greening (Challis α) and β-hemolytic (Challis β) colonies were isolated on horse blood agar. Both colonies formed greening on sheep blood agar, and no significant differences were found in their biological, serological and chemical analyses. They, however, showed clear differences on the transformability. Transformability, the producibility of competence-provoking factor (CPF) and competency which have been reported on the Challis strain were all found in Challis β strain. On the other hand, Challis α strain did not produce antibiotic-resistant transformants with the addition of CPF, and could not produce CPF even when the cells were cultured under various conditions of incubation or treated with lysozyme or detergents. The transformabilities of antibiotic-resistant mutants obtained from the Challis β strain were lower than those of the original Challis β strain, as pointed out by other investigators, while the Challis α strain became transformable on antibiotic resistance only when it acquired streptomycin resistance. In the Challis β strain and the antibiotic-resistant mutants of Challis α strain, the separate markers of streptomycin, penicillin, tetracycline, mitomycin C, as well as the combinations of these markers were found to be transformed at the highest rate in the strains having transformation of streptomycin resistance. The findings are discussed with respect to incorporation of deoxyribonucleic acid into recipient cells and to the reports of other workers.     

一种快速、有效、经济的提取酵母质粒的方法

目的：建立一种经济有效、快速简便、稳定的提取酵母质粒的方法。方法：用葡糖苷酸酶消化酵母细胞壁以获取原生质体,然后采用碱裂解法裂解原生质体以获得质粒。结果：与采用商品化离心柱法试剂盒所提取的质粒相比,用该法获取的酵母质粒在PCR分析及转化效果方面没有差异。结论：建立了一种经济有效、快速简便、稳定的提取酵母质粒的方法。     

Spheroplast of Acetic Acid Bacteria

A procedure, preparing spheroplast of acetic acid bacteria, was established to elucidate the membrane structure of the organisms. Of the acetic acid bacteria, only Acetobacter aceti cells were converted into spheroplasts by the sucrose-EDTA-lysozyme system. To Gluconobacter suboxydans, a method exchanging sucrose in the system for NaCl was indispensable. This NaCl-EDTA-lysozyme system was adequate for almost all acetic acid bacteria, which were converted efficiently into spheroplasts. The existence of EDTA was not essential to the genus Gluconobacter.     

Transformability of Streptomycin-resistant Group H Streptococci

Several resistant mutants of a transformable group H streptococcus, strain Challis, were isolated from media containing high concentrations of streptomycin. Mutants SR5a and SR5 exhibited high and low transformability, respectively, when exposed to deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) from a novobiocin-resistant Challis strain. With similar exposure, mutant SR30 exhibited loss of transformability. The mutants further differed from the parent strain in time of appearance of optimal competence, and, in the case of SR5 and SR30, total growth was somewhat less than that of the parent. The rapidity with which transformants appeared upon initial exposure to DNA was approximately the same in the mutants and the parent strain. The decrease or loss of transformability of mutants SR5 and SR30 was found to be due to an alteration in capacity to take up DNA. Mutant SR5a (highly transformable) was further differentiated from mutants SR5 and SR30 in that it was somewhat more sensitive to high concentrations of streptomycin. Transformants obtained by treating strain Challis with the three types of mutant DNA, on the other hand, exhibited similar degrees of resistance to increasing concentrations of streptomycin. The additional decrease in transforming ability of mutant SR5a and the loss of transforming ability of mutant SR5 after a second exposure to streptomycin may indicate a stepwise process in the change from transformability to nontransformability. Although streptomycin resistance may not be directly related to inability to transform, results indicate that streptomycin greatly increases the chances of selecting these mutants and also can be of value in serving as a marker in studies of this nature.     

乙脑E蛋白主要抗原片段与hsp70肽连接区融合酵母表达载体的构建

构建乙型脑炎E蛋白主要抗原片段与结核杆菌热休克蛋白70（Mycobacterium tuberculosis heat shock protein70,Mt．hsp70）的肽连接区（Binding domain）基因融合表达载体,利用酵母表达系统,为下一步研究肽连接区是否能增强乙型脑炎E蛋白主要抗原片段的免疫原性作准备。以酵母表达载体pPICZα-A为基本单位构建,以酶切位点BamHI连接这2个基因,用电穿孔法转化酵母X-33,Zeocin平板筛选重组子,经甲醇诱导表达后,SDS—PAGE和免疫印迹分析表达产物。E蛋白主要抗原片段与hsp70肽连接区的融合表达载体构建成功,SDS—PAGE显示,其相对分子质量为68kDa,与实际大小相符且为分泌表达,表达量约为97mg／L,经Western印迹验证,抗原性较好。将用同样的酵母表达载体表达的乙脑E蛋白主要抗原片段（另文发表）与上述融合蛋白均以50pmol的量分别对6～8周龄的BALB／c小鼠进行腹膜内注射,3周后进行第二次免疫,从淋巴细胞的增殖和抗体滴度两个方面进行比较,最后得出E—BD融合蛋白在免疫效果方面比乙脑E蛋白主要抗原片段效果要好,在试验中肽连接区可以增强乙型脑炎E蛋白主要抗原片段的免疫原性。     

Long-Tract Mitotic Gene Conversion in Yeast: Evidence for a Triparental Contribution during Spontaneous Recombination

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, spontaneous mitotic gene conversion at one site is statistically correlated with recombination at other loci. In general, coincident conversion frequencies are highest for tightly linked markers and decline as a function of intermarker distance. Paradoxically, a significant fraction of mitotic gene convertants exhibits concomitant nonreciprocal segregation for multiple and widely spaced markers. We have undertaken a detailed genetic analysis of this class of mitotic recombinants. Our results indicate that mitotic gene conversion in yeast is frequently associated with nonreciprocal segregation of markers centromere-distal to the selected site of conversion. In addition, distal markers are often found to be mosaic within the product colonies. These observations, and others described here, suggest that a percentage of gene conversion in vegetative yeast cells is coupled to a chromosome break and repair mechanism. This hypothesis was further tested using a strain trisomic for chromosome VII which was specially marked to detect homolog-dependent repair events. An association between mitotic gene conversion events and the production of broken chromosomes which are repaired by a homologous-pairing-copy mechanism was supported.     

Evolutionary Capture of Viral and Plasmid DNA by Yeast Nuclear Chromosomes

A 10-kb region of the nuclear genome of the yeast Vanderwaltozyma polyspora contains an unusual cluster of five pseudogenes homologous to five different genes from yeast killer viruses, killer plasmids, the 2μm plasmid, and a Penicillium virus. By further database searches, we show that this phenomenon is not unique to V. polyspora but that about 40% of the sequenced genomes of Saccharomycotina species contain integrated copies of genes from DNA plasmids or RNA viruses. We propose the name NUPAVs (nuclear sequences of plasmid and viral origin) for these objects, by analogy to NUMTs (nuclear copies of mitochondrial DNA) and NUPTs (nuclear copies of plastid DNA, in plants) of organellar origin. Although most of the NUPAVs are pseudogenes, one intact and active gene that was formed in this way is the KHS1 chromosomal killer locus of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We show that KHS1 is a NUPAV related to M2 killer virus double-stranded RNA. Many NUPAVs are located beside tRNA genes, and some contain sequences from a mixture of different extrachromosomal sources. We propose that NUPAVs are sequences that were captured by the nuclear genome during the repair of double-strand breaks that occurred during evolution and that some of their properties may be explained by repeated breakage at fragile chromosomal sites.It is well known that the nuclear genomes of most eukaryotes contain integrated fragments of organellar DNA called NUMTs (nuclear copies of mitochondrial DNA) and NUPTs (nuclear copies of plastid DNA, in plants) (26, 29, 44, 45, 57). These fragments are usually pseudogenes, although some NUMTs and NUPTs have become incorporated into functional nuclear genes (38). The NUMTs present in the nuclear genomes of Saccharomycotina yeast species were recently analyzed by Sacerdot et al. (48).In addition to their mitochondrial genomes, yeast species contain a variety of other extranuclear DNA and RNA elements, including viruses and plasmids. These extrachromosomal elements are usually considered to be autonomous entities that do not interact with nuclear DNA. When our laboratory sequenced the genome of the yeast Vanderwaltozyma polyspora (synonym: Kluyveromyces polysporus) (49), we were therefore surprised to find the genomic region we describe here, which contains integrated fragments of several plasmid- and virus-like sequences. We propose that this region was formed by the capture of plasmid and viral sequences by the same mechanism that captures mitochondrial DNA to form NUMTs (43, 65). In a literature search, we could find only one previous report of a similar finding: Utatsu et al. (59) reported the sequences of two regions of nuclear DNA from Zygosaccharomyces rouxii that were highly similar to parts of the 2μm-like plasmid pSR1 from that species, but rearranged.Before describing the V. polyspora region, and similar regions found in other species, we will first briefly introduce the extrachromosomal RNA and DNA entities that are known to exist in yeasts. Extrachromosomal nucleic acids are relatively uncommon in yeasts: a broad survey of 1,800 strains from 600 species by Fukuhara (14) found that 196 strains (11%) contained some sort of extrachromosomal entity. Among these, 105 strains had a double-stranded RNA (dsRNA), 28 had a linear dsDNA plasmid, and 53 had a circular DNA plasmid of the 2μm family. These elements typically also have a patchy distribution within a species, being found in some individuals or strains but not in others. For instance, Nakayashiki et al. (37) surveyed 70 “wild” strains of Saccharomyces (mostly S. cerevisiae) for the presence of five extrachromosomal elements (2μm DNA plasmid, L-A and L-BC helper RNA viruses, and W and T RNA entities) and found each element to be present in between 1 and 38 of the strains, with 1 strain even containing all five elements simultaneously.     

Production of Yeast Cells from Methanol

Using immunochemical technique thermal denaturation of soybean 11S globulin, dissolved in different ionic strength solutions (µ=0~4.0) and heated at 100°C for 5 min, has been quantitatively studied. The curves of the percentage of antigenicity remaining were obtained as a function of salt concentration. The 11S globulin became strongly resistant to thermal denaturation with increasing both KCl and potassium phosphate. The stabilizing effect (in terms of percent antigenicity) was separated into three regions. At ionic strength below 0.7, potassium phosphate had no stabilizing effect while KCl had aslightly effect. The rise in stabilizing effect up to about 50%, near 1.0~1.5 µ, represented a second transition to a different denatured state which retains undissociated molecule. At rises up to 75~95%, near 2.5~3.5µ, a different conformational state resulted in which thermally denatured 11S globulin maintained almost intact native conformation after heating. The selection of an adequate ionic strength of protein solution has enabled preparation of thermally denatured 11S globulins which have desired-residual amounts of structured regions.     

Construction of Plasmid Vectors and Transformation of the Marine Yeast Debaryomyces hansenii

We have constructed two plasmid vectors (pMR95 and pMR96) with selectable markers for the marine yeast Debaryomyces hansenii. Plasmid pMR95 contains an autonomously replicating sequence previously isolated from Debaryomyces and a hygromycin B resistance gene from the plasmid pLG90 under the control of the isocytochrome C1 promoter and terminator sequences, while pMR96 has, in addition, the Saccharomyces URA3 gene. Transformation in Debaryomyces was accomplished by electroporation. Plasmid pMR95 was capable of transforming both Saccharomyces cerevisiae and D. hansenii to hygromycin resistance at low frequencies; pMR96 transformed both yeasts at low frequencies when selected for hygromycin B resistance and at very high efficiencies when selected for uracil prototrophy. The presence of the plasmids in the transformed yeast was confirmed by polymerase chain reaction. The plasmids could be recovered back in Escherichia coli when transformed with total DNA from the yeast transformants, indicating at least a partial autonomous existence of the plasmids in the marine yeast. To our knowledge this is the first successful attempt to transform D. hansenii. Received April 16, 1998; accepted June 30, 1998.     

FOXL2酵母双杂交诱饵载体构建及检测

目的:用FOXL2编码区片段构建酵母双杂交诱饵质粒并对诱饵质粒进行自激活活性及毒性检测.方法:PCR扩增FOXl2编码区DNA片段,克隆入pGBKT7质粒,转化至DH-5α大量扩增后提取质粒,经PCR、酶切和测序验证,再转化至Y187酵母菌株中用缺陷培养基筛选并进行自激活和毒性检测.结果:获得FOXL2基因1137bp片段,并成功将人类正常和一突变型FOXL2编码区克隆人pGBKT7中,经检测在SD/-Trp/X-α-Gal单缺培养基平板上无蓝色菌斑出现,在SD/-Ade/-Trp培养基平板无生长.同时在SD/-Trp/Kana(20μg/ml)培养24h后测得菌液OD600≥0.8,说明重组诱质粒无自激活活性和酵母毒性,满足作为诱饵质粒的条件.结论:成功构建了正常及突变型的FOXL2酵母杂交诱饵质粒;为进一步利用酵母双杂交技术研究与FOXL2相互作用的蛋白打下坚实基础.     

含人抗体恒定区基因的酵母表达质粒的构建

本文主要报告了用以表达人-鼠嵌合抗体基因的酵母表达载体的构建、筛选与鉴定的研究结果.作者利用高度表达的酵母质粒YEP_(51),与含人抗体恒定区基因的pSV_2gptHuG_4两个质粒为材料,构建成可以供表达任何小鼠单克隆抗体的可变区基因,以构成嵌合的人-鼠抗体基因,用酶切回收插入DNA片段、原位和斑点杂交法对重组质粒予以鉴定和筛选,获得了pYEP-H重组的酵母表达载体.     

Direct Transfer of Plasmid DNA from Intact Yeast Spheroplasts into Plant Protoplasts

We developed a polyethylene glycol (PEG)-mediated direct DNAtransfer method from intact Saccharomyces cerevisiae spheroplastsinto Arabidopsis thaliana protoplasts. To monitor the DNA transferfrom yeast to plant cells, ß-glucuronidase (GUS) reportergene in which a plant intron was inserted was used as a reporter.This intron-GUS reporter gene on a 2µm-based plasmid vectorwas not expressed in yeast transformants, while it expressedGUS activity when the plasmid DNA was introduced into plantcells. When a mixture of 1 x 10⁸ of S. cerevisiae spheroplastsharboring the plasmid and 2 x 10⁶ of A. thaliana protoplastswas treated with PEG and high pH-high Ca²⁺ solution (0.4 M mannitol,50 mM CaCl₂, 50 mM glycine-NaOH pH 10.5), GUS activity was detectedin the extract of the plant cells after a three-day culture.The GUS activity was higher than that of a reconstitution experimentin which the mixture of 1 x 10⁸ of S. cerevisiae spheroplastswhich did not carry the reporter gene, 2 x 10⁶ of A. thalianaprotoplasts and the same amount of the reporter plasmid DNAas that contained in 1 x 10⁸ of S. cerevisiae spheroplasts,was treated with PEG and high pH-high Ca²⁺ solution. Moreover,the GUS gene expression was resistant to micrococcal nucleasetreatment before and during PEG treatment. From these results,we concluded that plasmid DNA can be directly transferred fromintact yeast spheroplasts to plant protoplasts by a nuclease-resistantprocess, possibly by the cell fusion. ²Deceased on September 15, 1992.     

三角酵母整细胞酶促转化头孢菌素C为戊二酰—7—氨基头孢烷酸

研究了利用含D－氨基酸氧化酶(D-amino acid oxidase,DAO EC1.4.3.3）的透性化三角酶母多倍体FA10（Trigonopsis variabilis FA10）细胞酶促转化头孢菌素C（cephalosporin C,CPC）为戊二酰－7－氨基头孢烷酸（Glutaryl-7-ACA,GL-7ACA）的反应过程和细胞中同时存在的过氧化氢酶（Catalase,CAT）通过水解H2O2而对转化反应产生的干扰作用及其对策。实验证明适量添加外源H2O2（6％）或在反应体系中加入过氧化氢酶抑制剂NaN3(0.13mg/mL )可使GL－7ACA生成率分别为73.0％和70.1％。如果将透性化的FA10细胞在pH10.5-11.0,20℃条件下保温30min,CAT被不可逆性完全钝化,以无过氧化氢酶的FA10细胞进行CPC的酶促转化反应GL－7ACA的生成率可达84％。     

三角酵母整细胞酶促转化头孢菌素C为戊二酰-7-氨基头孢烷酸

研究了利用含D-氨基酸氧化酶(Damino acid oxidase, DAO EC1.4.3.3)的透性化三角酵母多倍体FA10(Trigonopsis variabilis FA10)细胞酶促转化头孢菌素(Ccephalosporin> C, CPC)为戊二酰-7-氨基头孢烷酸(Glutaryl-7-ACA,GL-7-ACA)的反应过程和细胞中同时存在的过氧化氢酶(Catalase, CAT)通过水解H₂O₂而对转化反应产生的干扰作用及其对策。实验证明适量添加外源H₂O₂(6%)或在反应体系中加入过氧化氢酶抑制剂NaN₃(0.13mg/mL)可使GL-7-ACA生成率分别为73.0%和70.1%。如果将透性化的FA10细胞在pH10.5～11.0,20℃条件下保温30min,CAT被不可逆性完全钝化,以无过氧化氢酶的FA10细胞进行CPC的酶促转化反应,GL-7ACA的生成率可达84%。     

Transformability of DNA polymerase-deficient mutants of Bacillus subtilis

The effect of a deficiency in DNA polymerase on recombination in $\text{Bacillus}$$\text{subtilis}$ has been studied. It is concluded that the major DNA polymerase of $\text{B.}$$\text{subtilis}$ is not required for recombination, and that the recombination deficiency of a previously described DNA polymerase-deficient mutant is actually due to a $\text{rec}$ mutation. Genetic crosses imply that this recombination deficiency is not $\text{recA}$ or $\text{recB}$.