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S Prakash

Publications and source records attributed to S Prakash.

At least 253 records · Page 14Linked to original sources

The RAD6 protein of Saccharomyces cerevisiae polyubiquitinates histones, and its acidic domain mediates this activity.

The RAD6 gene of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is required for post-replication repair of UV-damaged DNA, DNA damage-induced mutagenesis, and sporulation. Here we demonstrate that the protein encoded by the RAD6 gene, previously shown to be a ubiquitin-conjugating (E2) enzyme, multiply ubiquitinates histones H2A and H2B efficiently to give products containing as many as seven or more molecules of ubiquitin. We also show that the highly acidic 23-residue RAD6 carboxy-terminal tail domain, which contains a total of 20 acidic residues, is essential for the histone-polyubiquitinating activity. Because the RAD6 polyacidic tail is required for the sporulation function but not for the DNA repair and induced mutagenesis functions of RAD6, the present observations suggest that the histone-polyubiquitinating activity of RAD6 protein is essential for sporulation but not for DNA repair and induced mutagenesis. Attachment of multiple molecules of ubiquitin to histones by RAD6 protein may serve to target the histones for degradation via the ubiquitin-dependent proteolytic system or to alter chromatin structure. The in vitro system for synthesizing polyubiquitinated histones described herein provides a means for investigating these possibilities.

Acids↗

RAD1, an excision repair gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, is also involved in recombination.

The RAD1 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae is required for the incision step of excision repair of damaged DNA. In this paper, we report our observations on the effect of the RAD1 gene on genetic recombination. Mitotic intrachromosomal and interchromosomal recombination in RAD+, rad1, rad52, and other rad mutant strains was examined. The rad1 deletion mutation and some rad1 point mutations reduced the frequency of intrachromosomal recombination of a his3 duplication, in which one his3 allele is deleted at the 3' end while the other his3 allele is deleted at the 5' end. Mutations in the other excision repair genes, RAD2, RAD3, and RAD4, did not lower recombination frequencies in the his3 duplication. As expected, recombination between the his3 deletion alleles in the duplication was reduced in the rad52 mutant. The frequency of HIS3+ recombinants fell synergistically in the rad1 rad52 double mutant, indicating that the RAD1 and RAD52 genes affect this recombination via different pathways. In contrast to the effect of mutations in the RAD52 gene, mutations in the RAD1 gene did not lower intrachromosomal and interchromosomal recombination between heteroalleles that carry point mutations rather than partial deletions; however, the rad1 delta mutation did lower the frequency of integration of linear plasmids and DNA fragments into homologous genomic sequences. We suggest that RAD1 plays a role in recombination after the formation of the recombinogenic substrate.

Alleles↗

The RAD3 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae encodes a DNA-dependent ATPase.

The RAD3 gene of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is required for excision repair of damaged DNA and for cell viability. A protein of approximately equal to 89 kDa was purified to near homogeneity from yeast strains harboring multicopy plasmids that overproduce RAD3 protein; this protein corresponds closely to the expected size of the RAD3 protein and cross-reacts with the antiserum raised against a truncated RAD3 protein produced in Escherichia coli. The purified RAD3 protein shows a single-stranded DNA-dependent ATPase activity that catalyzes hydrolysis of ATP to ADP and Pi. The ATPase activity was coincident with the RAD3 protein during purification and is inhibited by anti-RAD3 antibodies, indicating that the RAD3 gene encodes this activity.

Adenosine Triphosphatases↗

RAD3 protein of Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a DNA helicase.

The Saccharomyces cerevisiae RAD3 gene, which is required for cell viability and excision repair of damaged DNA, encodes an 89-kDa protein that has a single-stranded DNA-dependent ATPase activity. We now show that the RAD3 protein also possesses a helicase activity that unwinds duplex regions in DNA substrates constructed by annealing DNA fragments of 71-851 nucleotides to circular, single-stranded M13 DNA. The DNA helicase activity is dependent on the hydrolysis of ATP, has a pH optimum of approximately 5.6, and is inhibited by antibodies raised against a truncated RAD3 protein produced in Escherichia coli. The RAD3 helicase translocates along single-stranded DNA in the 5'----3' direction. The direction of RAD3 helicase movement is consistent with the possibility that it unwinds DNA duplexes in advance of the replication fork during DNA replication.

Antigen-Antibody Reactions↗

Mesenchymal target cell specificity of egg granuloma-derived fibroblast growth factor in schistosomiasis.

We previously demonstrated that egg granulomas isolated from the liver of mice infected with Schistosoma mansoni secrete factors that stimulate fibroblast proliferation in vitro. Because this growth factor also stimulated thymocyte proliferation, we further investigated the mesenchymal target cell specificity of this factor. We now report that granulomas also secrete material that promotes growth of aortic smooth muscle and endothelial cells. We found that the activities that stimulate fibroblast and smooth muscle cell growth share similar physicochemical properties (Mr, 30-40 kilodaltons [kDa]; pI, approximately 6.5), a result suggesting that they are the same or related molecules. In contrast, fractions (Mr, less than 10 kDa; pI, 6.7-7.5) that maximally stimulated endothelial cells had minimal or no effects on the other two cell types. We postulate that soluble granuloma products might also stimulate in vivo proliferation of vascular smooth muscle and endothelial cells and contribute to the pathology of the intrahepatic vessels in schistosomiasis.

Animals↗

Elaboration by mammalian mesenchymal cells infected with Trypanosoma cruzi of a fibroblast-stimulating factor that may contribute to chagasic cardiomyopathy.

Myocardial fibrosis can occur as a complication of chronic infection of the heart with Trypanosoma cruzi (Chagas' disease) and can lead to serious disability. To assess whether there might be a direct relationship between intracellular parasitization and subsequent tissue fibrosis in this disease, we tested serum-free conditioned media from cultures of fibroblasts, vascular smooth-muscle cells, and myocardial cells for fibroblast-stimulating activity. Conditioned media from all infected cultures, but not from uninfected cultures, stimulated fibroblast [3H]thymidine incorporation, DNA and protein synthesis, and cell proliferation. Fibroblast-stimulating activity was also detected in extracts of amastigotes but not of trypomastigotes or epimastigotes. We conclude that parasitization of mesenchymal cells, including myocardial cells, results in elaboration of a fibroblast-stimulating factor(s), perhaps of parasite origin. We postulate that this factor may play a role in initiation of myocardial fibrosis in Chagas' disease.

Animals↗

Nucleotide sequence and functional analysis of the RAD1 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The RAD1 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae is involved in excision repair of damaged DNA. The nucleotide sequence of the RAD1 gene presented here shows an open reading frame of 3,300 nucleotides. Two ATG codons occur in the open reading frame at positions +1 and +334, respectively. Since a deletion of about 2.7 kilobases of DNA from the 5' region of the RAD1 gene, which also deletes the +1 ATG and 11 additional codons in the RAD1 open reading frame, partially complements UV sensitivity of a rad1 delta mutant, we examined the role of the +1 ATG and +334 ATG codons in translation initiation of RAD1 protein. Mutation of the +1 ATG codon to ATC affected the complementation ability of the RAD1 gene, whereas mutation of the +334 ATG codon to ATC showed no discernible effect on RAD1 function. These results indicate that translation of RAD1 protein is initiated from the +1 ATG codon. Productive in-frame RAD1-lacZ fusions showed that the RAD1 open reading frame is expressed in yeasts. The RAD1-encoded protein contains 1,100 amino acids with a molecular weight of 126,360.

Base Sequence↗

Nucleotide sequence, transcript mapping, and regulation of the RAD2 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

We determined the nucleotide sequence, mapped the 5' and 3' mRNA termini, and examined the regulation of the RAD2 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. A long open reading frame within the RAD2 transcribed region encodes a protein of 1,031 amino acids with a calculated molecular weight of 117,847. A disruption of the RAD2 gene that deletes the 78 carboxyl terminal codons results in loss of RAD2 function. The 5' ends of RAD2 mRNA show considerable heterogeneity, mapping 5 to 62 nucleotides upstream of the first ATG codon of the long RAD2 open reading frame. The longest RAD2 transcripts also contain a short open reading frame of 37 codons that precedes and overlaps the 5' end of the long RAD2 open reading frame. The RAD2 3' mRNA end maps 171 nucleotides downstream of the TAA termination codon and 20 nucleotides downstream from a 12-base-pair inverted repeat that might function in transcript termination. Northern blot analysis showed a ninefold increase in steady-state levels of RAD2 mRNA after treatment of yeast cells with UV light. The 5' flanking region of the RAD2 gene contains several direct and inverted repeats and a 44-nucleotide-long purine-rich tract. The sequence T G G A G G C A T T A A found at position -167 to -156 in the RAD2 gene is similar to a sequence present in the 5' flanking regions of the RAD7 and RAD10 genes.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

RAD7 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae: transcripts, nucleotide sequence analysis, and functional relationship between the RAD7 and RAD23 gene products.

The RAD7 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae was cloned on a 4.0-kilobase (kb) DNA fragment and shown to provide full complementation of a rad7-delta mutant strain. The nucleotide sequence of a 2.2-kb DNA fragment which contains the complete RAD7 gene was determined. Transcription of the RAD7 gene initiates at multiple sites in a region spanning positions -61 to -8 of the DNA sequence. The 1.8-kb RAD7 mRNA encodes a protein of 565 amino acids with a predicted size of 63.7 kilodaltons. The hydropathy profile of the RAD7 protein indicates a highly hydrophilic amino terminus and a very hydrophobic region toward the carboxyl terminus. A RAD7 subclone deleted for the first 99 codons complements the rad7-delta mutation, but not the rad7-delta rad23-delta double mutation, indicating that the RAD23 protein can compensate for the function that is missing in the amino-terminally deleted RAD7 protein. The RAD7 and RAD23 genes in multicopy plasmids do not complement the rad23-delta and rad7-delta mutations, respectively. These observations could mean that although the two proteins might share a common functional domain, they must also perform distinct functions. Alternatively, an interaction between the RAD7 and RAD23 proteins could also account for these observations.

Amino Acid Sequence↗