Dagmar Bacikova

Tsc13p Is Required for Fatty Acid Elongation and Localizes to a Novel Structure at the Nuclear-Vacuolar Interface in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

ABSTRACT The TSC13/YDL015c gene was identified in a screen for suppressors of the calcium sensitivity of csg2Δ mutants that are defective in sphingolipid synthesis. The fatty acid moiety of sphingolipids in Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a very long chain fatty acid (VLCFA) that is synthesized by a microsomal enzyme system that lengthens the palmitate produced by cytosolic fatty acid synthase by two carbon units in each cycle of elongation. TheTSC13 gene encodes a protein required for elongation, possibly the enoyl reductase that catalyzes the last step in each cycle of elongation. The tsc13 mutant accumulates high levels of long-chain bases as well as ceramides that harbor fatty acids with chain lengths shorter than 26 carbons. These phenotypes are exacerbated by the deletion of either the ELO2 or ELO3gene, both of which have previously been shown to be required for VLCFA synthesis. Compromising the synthesis of malonyl coenzyme A (malonyl-CoA) by inactivating acetyl-CoA carboxylase in atsc13 mutant is lethal, further supporting a role of Tsc13p in VLCFA synthesis. Tsc13p coimmunoprecipitates with Elo2p and Elo3p, suggesting that the elongating proteins are organized in a complex. Tsc13p localizes to the endoplasmic reticulum and is highly enriched in a novel structure marking nuclear-vacuolar junctions.

The Saccharomyces cerevisiae TSC10/YBR265w gene encoding 3-ketosphinganine reductase is identified in a screen for temperature-sensitive suppressors of the Ca2+-sensitive csg2Delta mutant.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae csg2Δmutants accumulate the sphingolipid inositolphosphorylceramide, which renders the cells Ca2+-sensitive. Temperature-sensitive mutations that suppress the Ca2+ sensitivity ofcsg2Δ mutants were isolated and characterized to identify genes that encode sphingolipid synthesis enzymes. Thesetemperature-sensitive csg2Δ suppressors (tsc) fall into 15 complementation groups. TheTSC10/YBR265w gene was found to encode 3-ketosphinganine reductase, the enzyme that catalyzes the second step in the synthesis of phytosphingosine, the long chain base found in yeast sphingolipids. 3-Ketosphinganine reductase (Tsc10p) is essential for growth in the absence of exogenous dihydrosphingosine or phytosphingosine. Tsc10p is a member of the short chain dehydrogenase/reductase protein family. The tsc10 mutants accumulate 3-ketosphinganine and microsomal membranes isolated fromtsc10 mutants have low 3-ketosphinganine reductase activity. His6-tagged Tsc10p was expressed inEscherichia coli and isolated by nickel-nitrilotriacetic acid column chromatography. The recombinant protein catalyzes the NADPH-dependent reduction of 3-ketosphinganine. These data indicate that Tsc10p is necessary and sufficient for catalyzing the NADPH-dependent reduction of 3-ketosphinganine to dihydrosphingosine.

Mutations in the yeast LCB1 and LCB2 genes, including those corresponding to the hereditary sensory neuropathy type I mutations, dominantly inactivate serine palmitoyltransferase

It was recently demonstrated that mutations in the human SPTLC1 gene, encoding the Lcb1p subunit of serine palmitoyltransferase (SPT), cause hereditary sensory neuropathy type I (1, 2). As a member of the subfamily of pyridoxal 5′-phosphate enzymes known as the α-oxoamine synthases, serine palmitoyltransferase catalyzes the committed step of sphingolipid synthesis. The residues that are mutated to cause hereditary sensory neuropathy type I reside in a highly conserved region of Lcb1p that is predicted to be a catalytic domain of Lcb1p on the basis of alignments with other members of the α-oxoamine synthase family. We found that the corresponding mutations in the LCB1 gene ofSaccharomyces cerevisiae reduce serine palmitoyltransferase activity. These mutations are dominant and decrease serine palmitoyltransferase activity by 50% when the wild-type and mutantLCB1 alleles are coexpressed. We also show that serine palmitoyltransferase is an Lcb1p·Lcb2p heterodimer and that the mutated Lcb1p proteins retain their ability to interact with Lcb2p. Modeling studies suggest that serine palmitoyltransferase is likely to have a single active site that lies at the Lcb1p·Lcb2p interface and that the mutations in Lcb1p reside near the lysine in Lcb2p that is expected to form the Schiffs base with the pyridoxal 5′-phosphate cofactor. Furthermore, mutations in this lysine and in a histidine residue that is also predicted to be important for pyridoxal 5′-phosphate binding to Lcb2p also dominantly inactivate SPT similar to the hereditary sensory neuropathy type 1-like mutations in Lcb1p.

Topological and Functional Characterization of the ssSPTs, Small Activating Subunits of Serine Palmitoyltransferase

Background: The ssSPTs activate serine palmitoyltransferase and specify its acyl-CoA selectivity. Results: Both properties are contained within a 33-amino acid core that spans the membrane. Conclusion: A single amino acid difference between ssSPTa and ssSPTb is responsible for the acyl-CoA preference of heterotrimers containing each isoform. Significance: The ssSPTs are critical regulatory components of the rate-limiting enzyme in sphingolipid biosynthesis. The topological and functional organization of the two isoforms of the small subunits of human serine palmitoyltransferase (hssSPTs) that activate the catalytic hLCB1/hLCB2 heterodimer was investigated. A variety of experimental approaches placed the N termini of the ssSPTs in the cytosol, their C termini in the lumen, and showed that they contain a single transmembrane domain. Deletion analysis revealed that the ability to activate the heterodimer is contained in a conserved 33-amino acid core domain that has the same membrane topology as the full-length protein. In combination with analysis of isoform chimera and site-directed mutagenesis, a single amino acid residue in this core (Met25 in ssSPTa and Val25 in ssSPTb) was identified which confers specificity for palmitoyl- or stearoyl-CoA, respectively, in both yeast and mammalian cells. This same residue also determines which isoform is a better activator of a mutant heterodimer, hLCB1S331F/hLCB2a, which has increased basal SPT activity and decreased amino acid substrate selectivity. This suggests that the role of the ssSPTs is to increase SPT activity without compromising substrate specificity. In addition, the observation that the C-terminal domains of ssSPTa and ssSPTb, which are highly conserved within each subfamily but are the most divergent regions between isoform subfamilies, are not required for activation of the heterodimer or for acyl-CoA selectivity suggests that the ssSPTs have additional roles that remain to be discovered.

Mutational analysis identifies two separable roles of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae splicing factor Prp18.

Prp18 functions in the second step of pre-mRNA splicing, joining the spliceosome just prior to the transesterification reaction that creates the mature mRNA. Prp18 interacts with Slu7, and the functions of the two proteins are intertwined. Using the X-ray structure of Prp18, we have designed mutants in Prp18 that imply that Prp18 has two distinct roles in splicing. Deletion mutations were used to delineate the surface of Prp18 that interacts with Slu7, and point mutations in Prp18 were used to define amino acids that contact Slu7. Experiments in which Slu7 and mutant Prp18 proteins were expressed at different levels support a model in which interaction between the proteins is needed for stable binding of both proteins to the spliceosome. Mutations in an evolutionarily conserved region show that it is critical for Prp18 function but is not involved in binding Slu7. Alleles with mutations in the conserved region are dominant negative, suggesting that the resulting mutant prp18 proteins make proper contacts with the spliceosome, but fail to carry out a Prp18-specific function. Prp18 thus appears to have two separable roles in splicing, one in stabilizing interaction of Slu7 with the spliceosome, and a second that requires the conserved loop.