Biomedical subjects

C L Denis

Publications and source records attributed to C L Denis.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

PubMed1994

Dissection of the ADR1 protein reveals multiple, functionally redundant activation domains interspersed with inhibitory regions: evidence for a repressor binding to the ADR1c region.

The yeast transcriptional activator ADR1 is required for expression of the glucose-repressible alcohol dehydrogenase gene (ADH2), as well as genes involved in glycerol metabolism. The N-terminal half of the ADR1 protein was shown to contain three separate transactivation domains, including one (TADI) that encompasses the zinc finger DNA-binding domain. While TADII and TADIII were shown to be functionally redundant in activating ADH2 expression, deletion of only TADIII impaired ADR1 control of glycerol metabolism genes. None of these activation domains appeared to be carbon source regulated when separated from the ADH2 promoter context. Interspersed among these activation domains were two regions which, when removed, increased ADR1 activity; one was localized to the site of ADR1c mutations (residues 227 to 239) that allow glucose-insensitive ADH2 expression. The 227-to-239 region blocked ADR1 activity independently of the TAD present on ADR1, ADR1 DNA binding, and specific ADH2 promoter sequences. In addition, this region inhibited the function of a heterologous transcriptional activator. These results are consistent with the existence of an extragenic factor that binds the ADR1c region and represses ADR1 activity and suggest that other factors are responsible for aiding ADR1 in the carbon source regulation of ADH2.

Alcohol Dehydrogenase↗

PubMed1994

CCR4 is a glucose-regulated transcription factor whose leucine-rich repeat binds several proteins important for placing CCR4 in its proper promoter context.

The yeast CCR4 protein is required for the expression of a number of genes involved in nonfermentative growth, including glucose-repressible ADH2, and is the only known suppressor of mutations in the SPT6 and SPT10 genes, two genes which are believed to be involved in chromatin maintenance. We show here that although CCR4 did not bind DNA under the conditions tested, it was able to activate transcription when fused to a heterologous DNA-binding domain. The transcriptional activation ability of CCR4, in contrast to that of many other activators, was glucose regulated. Two activation domains one of which was glucose responsive and encompassed a glutamine-proline-rich region similar to that found in other eukaryotic transcriptional factors were identified. The two transactivation regions, when separated from the leucine-rich repeat and the C terminus of CCR4, were unable to complement a defective ccr4 allele, suggesting that the leucine-rich repeat and the C terminus make contacts that link the activation regions to the proper gene context. Native immunoprecipitation of CCR4 revealed that CCR4 was complexed with at least four other proteins. The leucine-rich repeat of CCR4 was both necessary and sufficient for interaction with at least two of these factors. We propose that the leucine-rich repeat links CCR4 through its associated factors to its promoter context at ADH2 and other loci where it is required for proper transcriptional regulation.

Alcohol Dehydrogenase↗

PubMed1993

Identification of three genes required for the glucose-dependent transcription of the yeast transcriptional activator ADR1.

Glucose repression of the ADH2 gene from Saccharomyces cerevisiae is mediated by the synthesis and activity of the transcriptional activator ADR1. In this study, we isolated mutations in three new genes (SAF1, SAF2 and SAF3) that suppressed the glucose-insensitive expression of ADH2 caused by the ADR1-5c allele. The mechanism by which the SAF genes maintain ADR1-5c function was investigated. Each of the mutated SAF genes was found to suppress ADR1-5c activity by lowering ADR1-5c steady state mRNA levels 5- to 8-fold under glucose growth conditions. ADR1 mRNA levels were similarly affected by the saf mutations. In contrast, mutations in the SAF genes had little or no effect on ADR1-5c or ADR1 mRNA levels under ethanol growth conditions. The stability of ADR1-5c mRNA was unaffected by mutations in each of the SAF genes, implying that the SAF genes are required for the transcription of ADR1 mRNA under glucose growth conditions. The possible function of the three SAF genes in ADR1 expression is discussed.

Alcohol Dehydrogenase↗

PubMed1992

Evolution of the alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) genes in yeast: characterization of a fourth ADH in Kluyveromyces lactis.

Three alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) genes have recently been characterized in the yeast Kluyveromyces lactis. We report on a fourth ADH in K. lactis (KADH II: KADH2* gene) which is highly similar to other ADHs in K. lactis and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. KADH II appears to be a cytoplasmic enzyme, and after expression of KADH2 in S. cerevisiae enzyme activity comigrated with a K. lactis ADH present in cells grown in glucose or in ethanol. KADH I was also expressed in S. cerevisiae and it comigrated with a major ADH species expressed under glucose growth conditions in K. lactis. The substrate specificities for KADH I and KADH II were shown to be more similar to that of SADH II than to SADH I. SADH I cannot efficiently utilize long chain alcohols, in contrast to other cytoplasmic yeast ADHs, presumably because of the presence of a methionine (residue 271) in its substrate binding cleft. A comparison of the DNA sequences of ADHs among K. lactis, S. cerevisiae and Schizosaccharomyces pombe suggests that the ancestral yeast species contained one cytoplasmic ADH. After divergence from S. pombe, the ADH in the ancestor to K. lactis and S. cerevisiae was duplicated, and one ADH became localized to the mitochondrion, presumably for the oxidative use of ethanol. Following the speciation of S. cerevisiae and K. lactis, the gene encoding the cytoplasmic ADH in S. cerevisiae duplicated, which resulted in the development of the SADH II protein as the primary oxidative enzyme in place of SADH III. In contrast, the K. lactis mitochondrial ADH duplicated to give rise to the highly expressed KADH3 and KADH4 genes, both of which may still play primary roles in oxidative metabolism. These data suggest that K. lactis and S. cerevisiae use different compartments for their metabolism of ethanol. Our results also indicate that the complex regulatory circuits controlling the glucose-repressible SADH2 in S. cerevisiae are a recent acquisition from regulatory networks used for the control of genes other than SADH2.

Alcohol Dehydrogenase↗

PubMed1992

The CCR4 protein from Saccharomyces cerevisiae contains a leucine-rich repeat region which is required for its control of ADH2 gene expression.

The CCR4 gene from Saccharomyces cerevisiae is required for the transcription of the glucose-repressible alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH2). Mutations in CCR4 also suppress the transcription at the ADH2 and his4-912delta loci caused by defects in the SPT10 (CRE1) and SPT6 (CRE2) genes. The CCR4 gene was mapped to the left arm of chromosome I and cloned by complementation of function using previously isolated segments of chromosome I. DNA sequence analysis of the cloned gene defined CCR4 as a 2511 bp open reading frame that would encode a polypeptide of 837 amino acids. The CCR4 mRNA was found to be 2.8 kb in size and Western analysis identified CCR4 as a 95,000 D protein. Disruption of the CCR4 gene resulted in reduced levels of ADH2 expression under both glucose and ethanol growth conditions and in temperature sensitive growth on nonfermentative medium, phenotypes essentially indistinguishable from previously identified mutations in CCR4. The amino terminus of the CCR4 protein was found to be rich in glutamine residues similar to a number of genes which are required for transcription. More importantly, CCR4 showed similarity to a diverse set of proteins sharing a leucine-rich tandem repeat motif, the presence of which has been implicated in mediating protein-protein interactions. Deletions of several of the five leucine-rich repeats in CCR4 were shown to produce nonfunctional proteins indicating the importance of the repeats to CCR4 activity. This leucine-rich repeat region may mediate the contact CCR4 makes with another factor.

Alcohol Dehydrogenase↗

PubMed1992

ADR1c mutations enhance the ability of ADR1 to activate transcription by a mechanism that is independent of effects on cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase phosphorylation of Ser-230.

Four ADR1c mutations that occur close to Ser-230 of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae transcriptional activator ADR1 and which greatly enhance the ability of ADR1 to activate ADH2 expression under glucose-repressed conditions have been shown to reduce or eliminate cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase (cAPK) phosphorylation of Ser-230 in vitro. In addition, unregulated cAPK expression in vivo blocks ADH2 depression in an ADR1-dependent fashion in which ADR1c mutations display decreased sensitivity to unregulated cAPK activity. Taken together, these data have suggested that ADR1c mutations enhance ADR1 activity by blocking cAPK phosphorylation and inactivation of Ser-230. We have isolated and characterized an additional 17 ADR1c mutations, defining 10 different amino acid changes, that were located in the region defined by amino acids 227 through 239 of ADR1. Three observations, however, indicate that the ADR1c phenotype is not simply equivalent to a lack of cAPK phosphorylation. First, only some of these newly isolated ADR1c mutations affected the ability of yeast cAPK to phosphorylate corresponding synthetic peptides modeled on the 222 to 234 region of ADR1 in vitro. Second, we observed that strains lacking cAPK activity did not display enhanced ADH2 expression under glucose growth conditions. Third, when Ser-230 was mutated to a nonphosphorylatable residue, lack of cAPK activity led to a substantial increase in ADH2 expression under glucose-repressed conditions. Thus, while cAPK controls ADH2 expression and ADR1 is required for this control, cAPK acts by a mechanism that is independent of effects on ADR1 Ser-230. It was also observed that deletion of the ADR1c region resulted in an ADR1c phenotype. The ADR1c region is, therefore, involved in maintaining ADR1 in an inactive form. ADR1c mutations may block the binding of a repressor to ADR1 or alter the structure of ADR1 so that transcriptional activation regions become unmasked.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMed1992

Glucose repression of the yeast ADH2 gene occurs through multiple mechanisms, including control of the protein synthesis of its transcriptional activator, ADR1.

The rate of ADH2 transcription increases dramatically when Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells are shifted from glucose to ethanol growth conditions. Since ADH2 expression under glucose growth conditions is strictly dependent on the dosage of the transcriptional activator ADR1, we investigated the possibility that regulation of the rate of ADR1 protein synthesis plays a role in controlling ADR1 activation of ADH2 transcription. We found that the rate of ADR1 protein synthesis increased 10- to 16-fold within 40 to 60 min after glucose depletion, coterminous with initiation of ADH2 transcription. Changes in ADR1 mRNA levels contributed only a twofold effect on ADR1 protein synthetic differences. The 510-nt untranslated ADR1 mRNA leader sequence was found to have no involvement in regulating the rate of ADR1 protein synthesis. In contrast, sequences internal to ADR1 coding region were determined to be necessary for controlling ADR1 translation. The ADR1c mutations which enhance ADR1 activity under glucose growth conditions did not affect ADR1 protein translation. ADR1 was also shown to be multiply phosphorylated in vivo under both ethanol and glucose growth conditions. Our results indicate that derepression of ADH2 occurs through multiple mechanisms involving the ADR1 regulatory protein.

Alcohol Dehydrogenase↗

PubMed1991

Substrate specificities for yeast and mammalian cAMP-dependent protein kinases are similar but not identical.

The substrate specificity of the cAMP-dependent protein kinase (cAPK) from Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been investigated using synthetic peptides corresponding to the local phosphorylation site sequence around Ser-230 in the yeast transcriptional activator ADR1. ADR1 is required for the expression of the glucose-repressible alcohol dehydrogenase. Yeast cAPK (encoded by the TPK1 gene) phosphorylated Ser-230 in the synthetic peptide ADR1-217-234, VRKRYLKKLTRRASFSAQ-NH2, with a Km of 5.3 microM compared with 46 microM for LRRASLG (Kemptide). Porcine heart cAPK phosphorylated the ADR1 peptide and Kemptide with the considerable lower Km values of 0.23 and 1.6 microM, respectively. These results indicate that the ADR1 peptide is an excellent substrate for cAPK. Both the yeast and mammalian protein kinases qualitatively shared a number of substrate specificity determinants in common involving residues on the proximal NH2-terminal side and up to the +4 position of the COOH-terminal side of the phosphoacceptor. The mammalian enzyme, however, had a much higher affinity for its substrates than did the yeast enzyme. In addition, the yeast and mammalian enzymes displayed several quantitative differences in their preferences for particular peptide substrates. In particular, the mammalian enzyme strongly preferred substrates with NH2-terminal extensions beyond the -4 position relative to the phosphoacceptor. These results suggest that all eukaryotic cAPKs recognize similar but not identical substrate specificity determinants. They also suggest that the different affinities for substrates that inhere to the individual enzymes could influence their physiological roles.

Animals↗

PubMed1991

The CCR1 (SNF1) and SCH9 protein kinases act independently of cAMP-dependent protein kinase and the transcriptional activator ADR1 in controlling yeast ADH2 expression.

cAMP-dependent protein kinase (cAPK) is implicated in the inactivation of the yeast transcriptional activator ADR1, which regulates glucose-repressible ADH2 gene expression. The interdependence of cAPK, SCH9 (a protein kinase that when overexpressed can functionally substitute for cAPK), and the CCR1 (SNF1) protein kinase that is required for ADH2 expression was studied. SCH9 was found to be required for ADH2 expression in contrast to the inhibitory role played by cAPK. CCR1 and SCH9 were observed to affect ADH2 expression independently of both ADR1 and cAPK. In contrast, cAPK was shown to exert its effects on ADH2 solely through ADR1. These results indicate that the SCH9 and CCR1 protein kinases are components of regulatory pathways separate from that utilized by cAPK to control ADR1 activity and ADH2 expression.

Alcohol Dehydrogenase↗

PubMed1990

The CCR4 gene from Saccharomyces cerevisiae is required for both nonfermentative and spt-mediated gene expression.

Mutations in the yeast CCR4 gene inhibit expression of the glucose-repressible alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH2), as well as other nonfermentative genes, and suppress increased ADH2 expression caused by the cre1 and cre2 alleles. Both the cre1 and ccr4 alleles were shown to affect ADH II enzyme activity by altering the levels of ADH2 mRNA. Mutations in either CRE1 or CRE2 bypassed the inhibition of ADH2 expression caused by delta insertions at the ADH2 promoter which displace the ADH2 activation sequences 336 bp upstream of the TATA element. These cre1 and cre2 effects were suppressible by the ccr4 allele. The cre1 and ccr4 mutations also affected ADH2 expression when all the ADH2 regulatory sequences upstream of the TATA element were deleted. The relationship of the CRE genes to the SPT genes, which when mutated are capable of bypassing the inhibition of HIS4 expression caused by a delta promoter insertion (his4-912 delta allele), was examined. Both the cre1 and cre2 mutations allowed his4-912 delta expression. ccr4 mutations were able to suppress the ability of the cre alleles to increase his4-912 delta expression. CRE2 was shown to be allelic to the SPT6 gene, and CRE1 was found to be allelic to SPT10. We suggest that the CRE genes comprise a general transcriptional control system in yeast that requires the function of the CCR4 gene.

Alcohol Dehydrogenase↗

PubMed1989

Cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase phosphorylates and inactivates the yeast transcriptional activator ADR1.

It has been proposed in several eukaryotic systems that the regulation of gene transcription involves phosphorylation of specific transcription factors. We report here that the yeast transcriptional activator ADR1 is phosphorylated in vitro by cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase and that mutations which enhance the ability of ADR1 to activate ADH2 expression decrease ADR1 phosphorylation. We also show that increased kinase activity in vivo inhibits ADH2 expression in an ADR1 allele-specific manner. Our data suggest that glucose repression of ADH2 is in part mediated through a cAMP-dependent phosphorylation-inactivation of the ADR1 regulatory protein.

Aldehyde Dehydrogenase↗

PubMed1989

Overexpression of the yeast transcriptional activator ADR1 induces mutation of the mitochondrial genome.

It was previously observed that increased dosages of the ADR1 gene, which encodes a yeast transcriptional activator required for alcohol dehydrogenase II (ADH II) expression, cause a decreased rate of growth in medium containing ethanol as the carbon source. Here we show that observed reduction in growth rate is mediated by the ADR1 protein which, when overexpressed, increases the frequency of cytoplasmic petites. Unlike previously characterized mutations known to potentiate petite formation, the ADR1 effect is dominant, with the petite frequency rising concomitantly with increasing ADR1 dosage. The ability of ADR1 to increase the frequency of mitochondrial mutation is correlated with its ability to activate ADH II transcription but is independent of the level of ADH II being expressed. Based on restoration tests using characterized mit- strains, ADR1 appears to cause non-specific deletions within the mitochondrial genome to produce rho- petites. Pedigree analysis of ADR1-overproducing strains indicates that only daughter cells become petite. This pattern is analogous to that observed for petite induction by growth at elevated temperature and by treatment with the acridine dye euflavine. One strain resistant to ADR1-induced petite formation displayed cross-resistance to petite mutation by growth at elevated temperature and euflavine treatment, yet was susceptible to petite induction by ethidium bromide. These results suggest that ADR1 overexpression disrupts the fidelity of mitochondrial DNA replication or repair.

Acriflavine↗

PubMed1988

Identification of functional regions in the yeast transcriptional activator ADR1.

The transcriptional activator ADR1 from Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a postulated DNA-binding protein that controls the expression of the glucose-repressible alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH2). Carboxy-terminal deletions of the ADR1 protein (1,323 amino acids in length) were used to localize its functional regions. The transcriptional activation region was localized to the N-terminal 220 amino acids of ADR1 containing two DNA-binding zinc finger motifs. In addition to the N terminus, a large part of the ADR1 sequence was shown to be essential for complete activation of ADH2. Deletion of the putative phosphorylation region, defined by ADR1c mutations that overcome glucose repression, did not render ADH2 expression insensitive to glucose repression. Instead, this region (amino acids 220 through 253) was found to be required by ADR1 to bypass glucose repression. These results suggest that ADR1c mutations enhance ADR1 function, rather than block an interaction of the putative phosphorylation region with a repressor molecule. Furthermore, the protein kinase CCR1 was shown to affect ADH2 expression when the putative phosphorylation region was removed, indicating that CCR1 does not act solely through this region. A functional ADR1 gene was also found to be necessary for growth on glycerol-containing medium. The N-terminal 506 amino acids of ADR1 were required for this newly identified function, indicating that ADH2 activation and glycerol growth are controlled by separate regions of ADR1.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMed1987

The effects of ADR1 and CCR1 gene dosage on the regulation of the glucose-repressible alcohol dehydrogenase from Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The dosage of the transcriptional activator ADR1 was varied in order to study the regulation of the glucose-repressible alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH II) from Saccharomyces cerevisiae. ADH II activity during glucose growth conditions was shown to increase linearly with increasing ADR1 gene dosage. In contrast, under derepressed growth conditions a 100-fold increase in ADR1 copy number resulted in only a 4-fold increase in ADH II expression. Saturation of ADH II gene expression by ADR1 under derepressed conditions was shown not to result from decreased ADR1 transcription. Increases in ADH2 gene dosage in conjunction with high ADR1 gene dosages resulted in increased ADH II activity, indicating that ADH2 was the limiting factor during derepression. Under glucose-repressed conditions the activator CCR1 was not required for ADR1 activity. During derepression increasing ADR1 dosage could partially compensate for a CCR1 defect. Increasing CCR1 gene dosage, however, had no effect on ADH2 expression regardless of the ADR1 allele present. These results suggest that CCR1 acts through ADR1 in controlling ADH2 expression. It was also observed that high numbers of ADR1, or a few copies of ADR1-5c, substantially increased the cell doubling time under ethanol growth conditions, indicating that increased ADR1 activity is toxic.

Alcohol Dehydrogenase↗

PubMed1987

Meiotic instability of tandemly iterated plasmid sequences in the yeast chromosome.

The stability of tandemly arrayed plasmid sequences in the yeast genome has been studied. Haploid strains carrying 75 copies of a 25 kb plasmid repeat did not undergo significant loss of copy number during mitosis. Diploids in which only one chromosome contained the multiple iterated sequences displayed a similarly low level of mitotic instability. In contrast, 60-90% of the meiotic diploid progeny showed significant decreases in the number of iterated sequences. Segregation for the integrated sequences was generally 2:2, indicating that interchromosomal recombination was not the cause of meiotic instability. Meiotic progeny from diploids in which both chromosomes contained multiple integrated sequences also showed the same high rate of loss of iterated sequences. These results suggest that the meiotic instability is a result of intrachromosomal recombination, a process which is enhanced during meiosis.

Alcohol Dehydrogenase↗

PubMed1986

Constitutive RNA synthesis for the yeast activator ADR1 and identification of the ADR1-5c mutation: implications in posttranslational control of ADR1.

The regulation of mRNA production for the yeast positive activator ADR1, a gene required for the expression of the glucose-repressible alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH II), was studied. ADR1 mRNA levels did not vary when yeasts were switched from glucose- to ethanol-containing medium, while ADH II expression increased 100-fold. The mRNA for the ADR1-5c allele, which augments ADH II expression 60-fold during glucose repression, was not present in greater abundance than ADR1 mRNA. Additionally, the ccr1-1 allele, which blocks ADH2 mRNA formation and partially suppresses the ADR1-5c phenotype, did not alter the levels of ADR1 mRNA. These results indicate that ADR1 is not transcriptionally controlled. To determine the character of the ADR1-5c mutation, the region containing the mutation was identified and sequenced. At base pair +683 a G-to-A transition was detected in the ADR1 coding sequence which would result in the substitution of a lysine residue for an arginine at amino acid 228. The location of the ADR1-5c mutation in the interior of the ADR1 coding sequences suggests that it enhances the activity of an extant but inactive ADR1 protein rather than increases the abundance of ADR1 by altered translation of its mRNA. The ADR1-5c mutation occurs in a region of the polypeptide corresponding to a cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase phosphorylation recognition sequence. The potential role of reversible phosphorylation in the posttranslational regulation of ADR1 is discussed.

Alcohol Dehydrogenase↗

PubMed1984

Identification of new genes involved in the regulation of yeast alcohol dehydrogenase II.

Recessive mutations in two negative control elements, CRE1 and CRE2, have been obtained that allow the glucose-repressible alcohol dehydrogenase (ADHII) of yeast to escape repression by glucose. Both the cre1 and cre2 alleles affected ADHII synthesis irrespective of the allele of the positive effector, ADR1. However, for complete derepression of ADHII synthesis, a wild-type ADR1 gene was required. Neither the cre1 nor cre2 alleles affected the expression of several other glucose-repressible enzymes. A third locus, CCR4, was identified by recessive mutations that suppressed the cre1 and cre2 phenotypes. The ccr4 allele blocked the derepression of ADHII and several other glucose-repressible enzymes, indicating that the CCR4 gene is a positive control element. The ccr4 allele had no effect on the repression of ADHII when it was combined with the ADR1-5c allele, whereas the phenotypically similar ccr1 allele, which partially suppresses ADR1-5c, did not suppress the cre1 or cre2 phenotype. Complementation studies also indicated that ccr1 and snf1 are allelic. A model of ADHII regulation is proposed in which both ADR1 and CCR4 are required for ADHII expression. CRE1 and CRE2 negatively control CCR4, whereas CCR1 is required for ADR1 function.

Alcohol Dehydrogenase↗

PubMed1983

mRNA levels for the fermentative alcohol dehydrogenase of Saccharomyces cerevisiae decrease upon growth on a nonfermentable carbon source.

The classical, fermentative alcohol dehydrogenase from Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which previously was thought to be constitutive, has been shown to be repressed by growth on nonfermentative carbon sources. The rate of alcohol dehydrogenase I protein synthesis declined 6-fold within 3 to 4 after yeast were transferred from medium containing glucose to medium containing ethanol, and it declined 10-fold after glucose became depleted from the medium during diauxic growth. The decreased rate of alcohol dehydrogenase I protein synthesis was shown not to be the result of an increased rate of degradation of the alcohol dehydrogenase I protein. The decline in alcohol dehydrogenase I protein synthesis was correlated with a 6- to 10-fold decrease in the amount of functional alcohol dehydrogenase I mRNA within 3 to 4 h after transfer from glucose-containing medium to medium containing ethanol. A similar decrease in alcohol dehydrogenase I functional mRNA occurred when cells were depleted of glucose by diauxic growth. Total alcohol dehydrogenase I mRNA, as detected by hybridization to the cloned ADC1 gene, was found in the same relative abundance as the amount of translatable alcohol dehydrogenase I mRNA during the different growth conditions. These results suggest that the alcohol dehydrogenase I protein is transcriptionally regulated.

Alcohol Dehydrogenase↗