Studies on energy-linked reactions: isolation, characterisation and genetic analysis of trialkyl-tin-resistant mutants of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Mutants of Saccharomyces cerevisiae resistant to triethyl tin sulphate have been isolated and are cross-resistant to other trialkyl tin salts. Triethyl-tin-resistant mutants fall into two general phenotypic classes: class 1 and class 2. Class 1 mutants are cross-resistant to a variety of inhibitors and uncoupling agents which affect mitochondrial membranes (oligomycin, ossamycin, valinomycin, antimycin, erythromycin, chloramphenicol, '1799', tetrachlorotrifluoromethyl benzimidazole carbonylcyanide-m-chlorophenylhydrazone and cycloheximide). Class 2 mutants are specifically resistant to trithyl tin and the uncoupling agent "1799' bis-(hexafluoroacetonyl)-acetone]. Triethyl tin at neutral pH values is a specific inhibitor of mitochondrial energy conservation reactions and prevents growth on oxidisable substrates such as glycerol and ethanol. Triethyl-tin-resistant mutants grow normally on glucose and ethanol in the presence of triethyl tin (10 muM). Biochemical studies indicate that the mutation involves a modification of the triethyl tin binding site on the mitochondrial inner membrane, probably the ATP-synthetase complex. Triethyl tin resistance/sensitivity in yeast is determined by cytoplasmic (mitochondrial) and nuclear genes. The mutants fall into a nuclear and a cytoplasmic (mitochondrial) class corresponding to the phenotypic cross-resistance classes 1 and 2. In the cytoplasmic mutants the triethyl tin resistance segregates mitotically and the resistance determinat is deleted by the action of ethidium bromide during petite induction. Recombination studies indicate that the triethyl tin mutations are not allelic with the other mitochondrial mutations at the loci RI, RIII and OLI. This indicates that the binding or inhibitory sites of oligomycin and triethyl tin are not identical and that the triethyl tin binding site is located on a different mitochondrial gene product to those which are involved in oligomycin binding. Interaction and cooperative effects between different binding sites on the mitochondrial inner membrane have been demonstrated in studies of the effect of the insertion of the TETr phenotype into mitochondrial oligomycin-resistant mutants and provide an experimental basis for complementation studies at the ATP-synthetase level.