Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to D G Fraenkel.
A gcr2 null mutant of Saccharomyces cerevisiae grows well on glucose in spite of its lower level of glycolytic enzymes between triose phosphates and pyruvate. A quantitative analysis shows that these levels are adequate to the flux but glycerate phosphates are elevated.
Comparison of microbial strains with normal and high content of single enzymes is coming into use for metabolic analysis and in vivo assessment of enzyme function. We present an example for phosphoglucose isomerase and glucose metabolism in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We use cell suspensions in conditions of inhibited protein synthesis and respiration, with low assimilation, rapid and linear glucose utilization, fermentation almost quantitative, and high enough cell density for direct preparation of extracts for metabolite analysis. The mass action ratio and fitting of fructose-6-P and glucose-6-P concentrations and kinetic parameters of the enzyme are not inconsistent with near equilibrium of the reaction in the wild-type strain and small if any change in the high level strain. However, this conclusion would require that the Vmax values underestimate the activity in the cell. On the other hand, the specific activities of glucose-6-P and fructose-1,6-P2 during metabolism of [2-3H]glucose are quite high which, together with knowledge of tritium exchange and isotope effects for the reaction in vitro, would point to the reaction in the wild-type strain being far from equilibrium; the specific activities are lower in the high level strain, indicating that extra enzyme is functional. One way to reconcile the latter results would be for tritium exchange to be considerably lower in vivo than known in vitro.
Yeast hexokinase 2 is known to be a phosphoprotein in vivo, prominently labeled from 32P-inorganic phosphate after a shift of cells to medium with low glucose concentration [Vojtek, A. B., & Fraenkel D. G. (1990) Eur. J. Biochem, 190, 371-375]. The principal and perhaps sole site of phosphorylation is now identified as residue serine-15, by observation of a single tryptic peptide difference, its sequencing and size determination by mass spectrometry, and by mutation to alanine, which prevents phosphorylation in vivo. Although protein kinase A was unlikely to accomplish the phosphorylation in vivo, serine-15 does belong to a protein kinase A consensus phosphorylation sequence, and in vitro phosphorylation by protein kinase A at serine-15 could be shown by labeling and by peptide determination. The alanine-15 mutant enzyme was not phosphorylated in vitro.
We present a comparative study of Escherichia coli with normal and increased amounts of fructose-1,6-bisphosphate aldolase. Most experiments employed a resting cell system involving a high cell density (so as to obtain the soluble pool by direct extraction) and anaerobic incubation in the presence of chloramphenicol. Glucose use is linear with time with a rate ca. half of that in growth, fermentation is almost quantitative, and metabolite concentrations reach a quasi steady state. Increased amount of aldolase had little effect on glucose flux; fructose-1,6-P2 concentration decreased by ca. one-third, and the extent of equilibration of its two halves, measured by a dismutation procedure on samples taken during metabolism of [6-14C]glucose, increased from 0.33 [(cpm in C1-3)/(cpm in C1-6)] to 0.43. Using the simplest model, that increased amount of aldolase does not perturb net flux or later metabolites, together with the steady-state rate equations for aldolase and triose-P isomerase, we show that the results with resting cells fit with the extra enzyme being fully active, and do not necessitate special assumptions concerning a glycolytic complex, metabolite compartmentation, or secondary mechanisms assuring high metabolite concentration. However, the fit does require that the measured Vmax values substantially underestimate the actual ones. Calculation also shows that the forms of the predicted curves--and hence the fit with experimental data--of fructose-1,6-P2 concentration and labeling as a function of the amount of aldolase are highly dependent on glyceraldehyde-3-P concentration but independent of the kinetic parameters of aldolase.
Glucose phosphorylation capacity is known to be in excess of glucose flux in Saccharomyces cerevisiae wild type but not in a mutant strain lacking the two hexokinases but still having glucokinase. Nonetheless, we show here that in the latter strain, as in the wild type, the internal concentration of glucose is apparently low during growth on glucose and that additional glucokinase activity does not increase glucose flux. The glucokinase-dependent strain accumulates substantial amounts of glucose internally in batch culture after exhaustion of glucose, as well as from maltose. In both of these situations, low concentrations of radioactive glucose provided to the medium are used with incomplete, if any, mixing with the internal pool. Furthermore, in contrast to activity of hexokinase and other enzymes, little glucokinase activity is revealed by toluene treatment of cells. These results may point to a connection between glucose entry and its phosphorylation by glucokinase, but separate explanations for the various findings are also possible.
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We have reported yeast 6-phosphofructo-2-kinase (EC 2.7.1.105) as having a ca. 96-kDa subunit size, as well as isolation of its structural gene, PFK26. Sequencing now shows an open reading frame of 827 amino acids and 93.5 kDa. The deduced amino acid sequence has 42% identity with the 55-kDa subunit of the bifunctional 6-phosphofructo-2-kinase/fructose-2,6-bisphosphatase from rat liver with extra material at both ends. Although the yeast sequence is especially similar to the liver one in its bisphosphatase domain, the essential His-258 of the liver enzyme is, in yeast, a serine, which may explain the apparent lack of bisphosphatase activity. Also, the yeast enzyme known to be activated via protein kinase A, has a putative phosphorylation site near its C-terminus and lacks the N-terminal phosphorylation sequence involved in inhibition of the liver enzyme. In a chromosomal null mutant strain, pfk26::LEU2, activity was marginal and the protein was not detectable as antigen. The mutant strain grew well on glucose and contained a near-normal level of fructose 2,6-P2. But in its growth on pyruvate, by contrast with the wild-type strain, no fructose 2,6-P2 was detectable, and it did not form after glucose addition in the presence of cycloheximide either. Such resting cells, however, metabolized glucose at the normal high rate. Glucose addition to the pfk26 mutant strain in the absence of cycloheximide, on the other hand, caused a ca. 10% normal rate of fructose 2,6-P2 accumulation, presumably employing a glucose-inducible second enzyme. Using strains also lacking 6-phosphofructo-1-kinase, affinity chromatography revealed the second enzyme as a minor peak amounting to 6% of 6-phosphofructo-2-kinase activity in a PFK26 strain and as the sole peak, in similar amount, in a pfk26 mutant strain.
Fructose-6-phosphate 2-kinase ('phosphofructokinase 2') was purified from a strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae lacking fructose-6-phosphate 1-kinase. After chromatography on DEAE-Sephacel, Sephacryl blue, CM-Sephadex and rechromatography on CM-Sephadex with fructose-6-phosphate elution, the specific activity was 1.6 U/mg protein. Although the latter value is high for fructose-6-phosphate 2-kinase, as was the purification factor of 3 x 10(4), staining with Coomassie blue showed the fraction to still contain many proteins. Incubation with [gamma-32P]ATP and the catalytic subunit of cAMP-dependent protein kinase gave a further increase in specific activity and labeling of, only, 96-kDa and 93-kDa polypeptides. Antiserum raised against these polypeptides recognized them in an immunoblot and could be used to remove the enzyme activity from crude extracts. Tryptic peptide profiles were obtained from about 10 pmol of the 96-kDa and 93-kDa polypeptides. The profiles were similar and sequencing allowed construction of mixed probes and identification of a putative single structural gene. Returned to yeast on a multicopy plasmid, phosphofructokinase 2 activity was considerably above the wild-type level, as was polypeptide revealed by immunoblotting.
A congenic series of Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains has been constructed which carry, in all combinations, null mutations in the three genes for glucose phosphorylation: HXK1, HXK2 and GLK1, coding hexokinase 1 (also called PI or A), hexokinase 2 (PII or B), and glucokinase, respectively: i.e., eight strains, all of which grow on glucose except for the triple mutant. All or several of the strains were characterized in their steady state batch growth with 0.2% or 2% glucose, in aerobic as well as respiration-inhibited conditions, with respect to growth rate, yield, and ethanol formation. Glucose flux values were generally similar for different strains and conditions, provided they contained either hexokinase 1 or hexokinase 2. And their aerobic growth, as known for wild type, was largely fermentative with ca. 1.5 mol ethanol made per mol glucose used. The strain lacking both hexokinases and containing glucokinase was an exception in having reduced flux, a result fitting with its maximal rate of glucose phosphorylation in vitro. Aerobic growth of even the latter strain was largely fermentative (ca. 1 mol ethanol per mol glucose). Invertase expression was determined for a variety of media. All strains with HXK2 showed repression in growth on glucose and the others did not. Derepression in the wild-type strain occurred at ca. 1 mM glucose. The metabolic data do not support- or disprove-a model with HXK2 having only a secondary role in catabolite repression related to more rapid metabolism.
We show by the use of 32P-labeling in vivo that hexokinase 2 and hexokinase 1 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae are phosphoproteins. The highest labeling was after incubation in medium with a low concentration of glucose, when labeling appears to be predominant even without use of immunoprecipitation. The nature of the modification is not known, but it has properties consistent with a phosphomonoester of serine or threonine. The cAMP-dependent protein kinase plays a negative role in hexokinase phosphorylation, in that there was reduced labeling in strains (bcy1) lacking a regulatory subunit, and increased labeling during growth with high concentrations of glucose in a strain attenuated in the catalytic subunit (tpk1w1). The function of the modification is not known, but there was a correlation between the extent of labeling and the expression of kinase-dependent high-affinity glucose uptake.
Screening of a mutagenized strain carrying a multicopy ENO1-'lacZ fusion plasmid revealed a new mutation affecting most glycolytic enzyme activities in a pattern resembling that caused by gcr1: levels in the range of 10% of wild-type levels on glycerol plus lactate but somewhat higher on glucose. The recessive single nuclear gene mutation, named gcr2-1, was unlinked to gcr1, and GCR1 in multiple copies did not restore enzyme levels. GCR2 was obtained by complementation from a YCp50 genomic library; the complemented strain had normal enzyme levels, as did a strain with GCR2 in multiple copies. GCR2 in multiple copies did not suppress gcr1. A chromosomal gcr2 null mutant was constructed; its pattern of enzyme activities resembled that of the gcr2-1 mutant and, like the gcr2-1 mutant, its growth defect on glucose was only partial (in contrast to the glucose negativity of the gcr1 mutant). Northern (RNA) analysis showed that gcr2 and gcr1 affect ENO1 mRNA levels.
When E. coli carrying multicopy plasmids for fructose-1,6-P2 aldolase or phosphoglycerate kinase was grown in the presence of 32Pi, there was label at the position of cognate high level polypeptide after SDS-PAGE. As tested for aldolase, the label was resistant to acetone, RNase, and hot TCA treatments, and was also observed by immunoprecipitation, which was competed for by purified aldolase. Incorporation of label also occurred in the presence of chloramphenicol. Immunoprecipitation revealed apparent aldolase labeling in the wild type strain as well.
Glucose uptake mutants have not been previously obtained in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, possibly because there seem to be at least two transport systems, of low and high affinities. We showed that snf3 (sucrose nonfermenting) mutants did not express high-affinity glucose uptake. Furthermore, their growth was completely impaired on low concentrations of glucose in the presence of antimycin A (which blocks respiration). Several genes which complemented the original snf3 gene were obtained on multicopy plasmids. Some of them, as well as plasmid-carried SNF3 itself, conferred a substantial increase in high-affinity glucose uptake in both snf3 and wild-type hosts. The effects of glucose on the expression of such a plasmid-determined high-affinity uptake resembled those in the wild type. Other genes complementing snf3 seemed to cause an increase in low-affinity glucose uptake. We suggest that SNF3 may function specifically in high-affinity glucose uptake, which is needed under some conditions of growth on low glucose concentrations. SNF3 itself or the other complementing genes may specify components of the glucose uptake system.
Inhibition of fructose bisphosphatase (EC 3.1.3.11) by AMP is thought to be an important control mechanism, and, for the Escherichia coli enzyme, is the only control known. We here report on a mutant E. coli fructose bisphosphatase almost insensitive to this inhibition. The purified enzyme is normal in other respects. A strain with this enzyme instead of the wild-type enzyme grows normally in a variety of media. A strain with a very high level of the wild-type enzyme also grows normally. A strain with the very high level of mutant enzyme, however, does show growth abnormalities, but they are not clearly associated with the AMP insensitivity.
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Fructose bisphosphatase catalyzes a key reaction of gluconeogenesis. We have cloned the fructose bisphosphatase (FBP1) structural gene from Saccharomyces cerevisiae by screening a genomic library for complementation of an Escherichia coli fbp deletion mutation. The cloned DNA expresses in E. coli a fructose bisphosphatase activity which is precipitable with antibodies specific for the yeast enzyme and is sensitive to inhibition by fructose 2,6-bisphosphate. Evidence is presented demonstrating that the entire gene, including all cis-acting regulatory sequences, has been cloned. A substitution mutation that disrupts FBP1 was incorporated into the yeast genome by transplacement to construct a fructose bisphosphatase null mutation. The fbp1 mutant strain is a hexose auxotroph, otherwise growing normally. Southern blot hybridization analysis confirmed the structure of the transplacement and demonstrated that FBP1 is present in single copy in the haploid genome. Northern blot hybridization analysis revealed an mRNA of about 1350 nucleotides, whose presence was repressible by glucose in the medium. Fructose bisphosphatase activity was not greatly overproduced when the FBP1 gene was present on a multicopy vector in yeast.
Saccharomyces cerevisiae contains two RAS genes, RAS1 and RAS2. An insertion mutation in RAS2 (ras2::LEU2) does not affect growth on glucose based media but it does prevent growth on media with pyruvate or other noncarbohydrate carbon sources. This defect is pH sensitive and is most severe at pH 7 and above. The ras2::LEU2 mutation also causes markedly higher levels of glycogen in the derepressed phase of growth after glucose exhaustion. Selection for restoration of growth on pyruvate yields unlinked suppressor mutations. Some of the suppressors also reduce glycogen as well as trehalose (the other reserve carbohydrate in yeast) to levels much lower than those of wild-type strains. These suppressor mutations do not suppress the lethality of ras1 ras2 double mutants. The results indirectly accord with yeast RAS2 governing a G protein activity of adenylate cyclase.
The fbp locus at 96 min on the Escherichia coli chromosome governs fructose bisphosphatase (fructose-1,6-P2 1-phosphatase). We have cloned and subcloned fbp on vector pBR322 to obtain strains with high levels of the enzyme. In vivo mutagenesis of the clone was used to show that fbp is the structural gene. The gene was deleted on the plasmid in vitro, and the chromosomal wild-type locus was replaced with this deletion by a method involving stabilization of a heterozygous intermediate resulting from plasmid integration, followed by segregation of the wild-type gene.