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F K Zimmermann

Publications and source records attributed to F K Zimmermann.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2000

Simultaneous overexpression of enzymes of the lower part of glycolysis can enhance the fermentative capacity of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Recombinant S. cerevisiae strains, with elevated levels of the enzymes of lower glycolysis (glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, phosphoglycerate mutase, phosphoglycerate kinase, enolase, pyruvate kinase, pyruvate decarboxylase and alcohol dehydrogenase) were physiologically characterized. During growth on glucose the enzyme levels in the recombinant strains (YHM4 and YHM7) were 1.1-3.4-fold higher than in the host strain (CEN.PK.K45). The recombinant strains were grown in aerobic or anaerobic batch cultures on glucose or a mixture of glucose and galactose. The specific ethanol production rates in the recombinant strains were the same as for the host strain and the physiological behaviour of the recombinant strains and the host strain was similar. When the cellular demand for ATP was increased by means of glucose pulses (final concentrations of 3.9 g/l or 2.0 g/l, respectively) to aerobic chemostat cultures maintained at a dilution rate of 0.08/h, the specific carbon dioxide production rate (qCO(2)) of CEN.PK.K45 accelerated at 6x10(-3) mmol/g/min(2) during the first 15 min, whereas during the same time period the qCO(2) of YHM7 accelerated twice as fast at 12x10(-3) mmol/g/min(2), indicating a higher fermentative capacity in the recombinant strain.

Aerobiosis↗
PubMed1999

Deletion of the carbonic anhydrase-like gene NCE103 of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae causes an oxygen-sensitive growth defect.

The yeast protein Nce103p encoded by the gene NCE103 (YNL036w) was described by Cleves et al. (1996) as a substrate of the non-classical export pathway which acts independently of the classical pathway through the ER and the Golgi compartments. However, the predicted amino acid sequence of Nce103p shows high levels of identities to carbonic anhydrases of pro- and eukaryotes. A nce103-Delta deletion strain did not grow on a rich peptone-yeast extract-glucose medium under normal aerobic conditions at pH values of 3.0-8.0, but grew like wild-type in an oxygen-free nitrogen or oxygen-reduced atmosphere over this pH range, and was more sensitive to H(2)O(2) than wild-type. No carbonic anhydrase activity could be detected in crude extracts prepared from wild-type, nce103-Delta mutants or in strains transformed with a multicopy plasmid carrying the NCE103 gene. Expression of the Medicago sativa carbonic anhydrase gene (Coba de la Peña et al., 1997), in a yeast expression cassette on a multicopy plasmid, complemented the growth defects caused by the nce103-Delta deletion and carbonic anhydrase activity could be readily detected in the crude extract. The ability of the nce103-Delta deletion strain to grow like wild-type under anaerobic conditions suggests that the protein encoded by NCE103 is required for protection against certain products of an oxidative metabolism and can be replaced in this function by the Medicago sativa carbonic anhydrase. A NCE103 promoter-LacZ fusion in a wild-type background showed that NCE103 is poorly transcribed under aerobic conditions and at an undetectable level under anaerobic conditions.

Aerobiosis↗
PubMed1999

A potential role of the cytoskeleton of Saccharomyces cerevisiae in a functional organization of glycolytic enzymes.

Numerous individual enzymes participate in a given synthetic or degradative pathway in which the product of one reaction becomes the substrate for the subsequent enzyme. This raises the question of whether the product of one 'soluble' enzyme diffuses freely through the available cell volume, where it accidentally collides with the subsequent 'soluble' enzyme. Alternatively, enzymes acting in a given pathway may be organized in ordered structures, metabolons. Certain glycolytic enzymes have been shown to co-localize with the cytoskeleton in mammalian cells. We deleted genes coding for proteins associated with the cytoskeleton of Saccharomyces cerevisiae: TPM1 coding for tropomyosin, SAC6 for fimbrin and CIN1 for a microtubule-associated protein. Single deletions or deletions of two such genes had no effect on the specific activities of glycolytic enzymes, or on the rates of glucose consumption and ethanol production. However, the concentrations of glycolytic metabolites during a switch from a gluconeogenic mode of metabolism, growth on an ethanol medium, to glycolysis after glucose addition showed transient deviations from the normal change in metabolite concentrations, as observed in wild type cells. However, all metabolites in mutant strains reached wild-type levels within 2-4 h after the shift. Only ATP levels remained low in all but the tmp1-Delta-sac6-Delta double mutant strains. These observations can be interpreted to mean that metabolic reorganization from a gluconeogenic to a glycolytic metabolism is facilitated by an intact cytoskeleton in yeast.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗
PubMed1997

Characterization of a glucose-repressed pyruvate kinase (Pyk2p) in Saccharomyces cerevisiae that is catalytically insensitive to fructose-1,6-bisphosphate.

We have characterized the gene YOR347c of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and shown that it encodes a second functional pyruvate kinase isoenzyme, Pyk2p. Overexpression of the YOR347c/PYK2 gene on a multicopy vector restored growth on glucose of a yeast pyruvate kinase 1 (pyk1) mutant strain and could completely substitute for the PYK1-encoded enzymatic activity. PYK2 gene expression is subject to glucose repression. A pyk2 deletion mutant had no obvious growth phenotypes under various conditions, but the growth defects of a pyk1 pyk2 double-deletion strain were even more pronounced than those of a pyk1 single-mutation strain. Pyk2p is active without fructose-1,6-bisphosphate. However, overexpression of PYK2 during growth on ethanol did not cause any of the deleterious effects expected from a futile cycling between pyruvate and phosphoenolpyruvate. The results indicate that the PYK2-encoded pyruvate kinase may be used under conditions of very low glycolytic flux.

Allosteric Regulation↗
PubMed1996

Sequence analysis of the CEN12 region of Saccharomyces cerevisiae on a 43.7 kb fragment of chromosome XII including an open reading frame homologous to the human cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator protein CFTR.

In the framework of the European Union BIOTECH project for systematically sequencing the Saccharomyces cerevisiae genome, we determined the nucleotide sequence of a 43.7 kb DNA fragment spanning the centromeric region of chromosome XII. A novel approach was the distribution of sublibraries prepared by the DNA coordinator (J. Hoheisel, Heidelberg, FRG), using a new hybridization-based DNA mapping method, in order to facilitate ordered sequencing. The sequence contains 22 open reading frames (ORFs) longer than 299 bp, including the published sequences for ATS/DPS1, SCD25, SOF1, DRS1, MMM1, DNM1 and the centromeric region CEN12. Five putative ORF products show similarity to known proteins: the leucine zipper-containing ABC transporter L1313p to the yeast Ycflp metal resistance protein, to the yeast putative ATP-dependent permease Yhd5p, to the yeast putative proteins Yk83p and Yk84p, to the human cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator protein (hCFTR) and to the human multidrug resistance-associated protein hMRP1; L1325p to the Drosophila melanogaster Pumilio protein, to the putative yeast regulatory protein Yg13p and to the yeast protein Mpt5p/Htrlp; L1329p to human lipase A and gastric lipase, to rat lingual lipase and to the putative yeast triglyceride lipase Tg11p; L1341p to the putative yeast protein Yhg4p; and the leucine zipper-containing L1361p to the two yeast proteins 00953p and Ym8156.08p and to the Arabidopsis thaliana protein HYP1. Eight ORFs show no homology to known sequences in the database, three small ORFs are internal and complementary to larger ones and L1301 is complementary overlapping the ATS/DPS1 gene. Additionally three equally spaced ARS consensus sequences were found.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1996

A two-hybrid system analysis shows interactions between 6-phosphofructo-1-kinase and 6-phosphofructo-2-kinase but not between other glycolytic enzymes of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The yeast two-hybrid system was used to investigate whether protein-protein interactions between enzymes of the early reactions of glycolysis exist in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Various glycolytic enzymes were fused either to the GAL4 transcription-activating or DNA-binding domain and were tested for their ability to restore GAL4-dependent gene activation. All the different fusion proteins complemented the growth and enzymatic defects caused by the deletion of the respective genes, which indicates that these proteins are still functional. Interactions between the two phosphofructo-1-kinase subunits PFK1 and PFK2, interactions between the phosphofructo-2-kinase subunits, and dimerization of phosphoglucose isomerase were demonstrated. Dimerization of hexokinase 2, however, could not be demonstrated neither with N-terminal nor C-terminal fusions. A direct interaction between the hexose-6-phosphate interconverting enzymes hexokinase 2, phosphoglucose isomerase, and phosphofructo-1-kinase could also not be demonstrated. Nevertheless, our results indicate a weak interaction between phosphofructo-1-kinase and phosphofructo-2-kinase.

Base Sequence↗
PubMed1996

Cloning and characterization of the first two genes of the non-oxidative part of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae pentose-phosphate pathway.

We have cloned and characterized the two remaining unknown genes of the non-oxidative part of the pentose-phosphate pathway of Saccharomyces cerevisiae encoding the enzymes D-ribulose-5-phosphate 3-epimerase (Rpe1p) and D-ribose-5-phosphate ketol-isomerase (Rki1p). Rpe1p has an unexpected high specific activity of 2148 mU x (mg protein)-1 in crude extracts. Deletion mutants of RPE1 show no enzyme activity and are unable to grow on D-xylulose. Unexpectedly, haploid rki1 deletion mutants are not viable. Functional expression of RKI1 was demonstrated following an increase of gene dosage in the haploid rki1 deletion mutant, which restored viability and specific D-ribose-5-phosphate ketol-isomerase activity. Both enzymes show high similarity to the deduced protein sequences of various open reading frames, expressed sequence tags or cDNAs from different organisms.

Aldose-Ketose Isomerases↗
PubMed1996

Cloning of a second gene encoding 5-phosphofructo-2-kinase in yeast, and characterization of mutant strains without fructose-2,6-bisphosphate.

We have identified a new gene, PFK27, that encodes a second inducible 6-phosphofructo-2-kinase in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Sequencing shows an open reading frame of 397 amino acids and 45.3 kDa. Amino acid sequence comparisons with other bifunctional 6-phosphofructo-2-kinase/fructose-2,6-bisphosphatase isoenzymes of various organisms revealed similarities only to the kinase domains. Expression of PFK27 was induced severalfold by glucose and sucrose, but not by galactose or maltose, suggesting that sugar transport might be involved in triggering the induction signal. We have constructed a mutant strain devoid of any fructose-2,6-bisphosphate. The mutant strain grew well on several kinds and concentrations of carbon sources. The levels of hexose phosphates in the cells were increased, but flux rates for glucose utilization and ethanol production were similar to the wild-type strain. However, after the transfer of the mutant cells from respiratory to fermentative growth conditions, growth, glucose consumption and ethanol production were delayed in a transition phase. Our results show that fructose-2,6-bisphosphate is an important effector in vivo of the 6-phosphofructo-1-kinase/fructose-1 ,6-bisphosphatase enzyme pair, and is involved in the initiation of glycolysis during the transition to a fermentative mode of metabolism. Nevertheless, it can be effectively replaced by other effectors and regulatory mechanisms during growth on glucose.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1995

Sequence analysis of a 33.1 kb fragment from the left arm of Saccharomyces cerevisiae chromosome X, including putative proteins with leucine zippers, a fungal Zn(II)2-Cys6 binuclear cluster domain and a putative alpha 2-SCB-alpha 2 binding site.

In the framework of the European BIOTECH project for sequencing the Saccharomyces cerevisiae genome, we have determined the nucleotide sequence of the left part of the cosmid clone 232 and the cosmid clone 233 provided by F. Galibert (Rennes Cedex, France). We present here 33,099 base pairs of sequence derived from the left arm of chromosome X of strain S288C. This sequence reveals 17 open reading frames (ORFs) with more than 299 base pairs, including the published sequences for ARG3, LIGTR/LIG1, ORF2, ACT3 and SCP160. Two other ORFs showed similarity with S. cerevisiae genes: one with the CAN1 gene coding for an arginine permease, and one with genes encoding the family of transcriptional activators containing a fungal Zn(II)2-Cys6 binuclear cluster domain like that found in Ppr1p or Ga14p. Both putative proteins contain a leucine zipper motif, the Can1p homologue has 12 putative membrane-spanning domains and a putative alpha 2-SCB-alpha 2 binding site. In a diploid disruption mutant of ORF J0922 coding for the transcriptional activator homologue, no colonies appeared before 10 days after transformation and then grew slowly. In contrast, haploid disruption mutants showed a growth phenotype like wild-type cells. One ORF showed weak similarity to the rad4 gene product of Schizosaccharomyces pombe and is essential for yeast growth. Five ORFs showed similarity to putative genes on the right arm of chromosome XI of S. cerevisiae. Two of them have similarity to each other and belong to a family of extracellular proteins that groups mammalian SCP/Tpx-1, insects Ag3/Ag5, plants PR-1 and fungi Sc7/Sc14.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Chromosomes, Fungal↗
PubMed1995

Sequence and functional analysis of a 7.2 kb fragment of Saccharomyces cerevisiae chromosome II including GAL7 and GAL10 and a new essential open reading frame.

The nucleotide sequence of a fragment of 7200 base pairs of Saccharomyces cerevisiae chromosome II has been determined. The sequence contains three open reading frames (ORFs). Two genes for galactose metabolism, GAL7 and part of the GAL10 coding region, are localized on the fragment. Comparison to the previously published sequence data showed several differences, leading to changes in the amino acid sequences of GAL7 and GAL10. One new ORF, YBR0224, was detected, coding for a protein with 918 amino acids. Comparison to the DNA and protein data bases showed no significant homologies. The protein has some interesting features pointing to a function involved in transcription regulation: a leucine zipper motif, a highly acidic region, possibly involved in transcription activation and a putative nuclear localization signal. Deletion analysis showed that the gene is essential when deleted in strain W303. Spores could germinate and form microcolonies, but efforts to propagate the colonies failed. Deletion of this gene in a different genetic background (strain M5) led to very poor-growing mutant strains with cells showing aberrant cellular morphologies.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1995

Mitochondrial DNA sequences reveal close relationships between social parasitic ants and their host species.

In the tribe Leptothoracini, the phylogenetic relationship of socially parasitic ants (Doronomyrmex kutteri, D. goesswaldi and Harpagoxenus sublaevis) and their host species Leptothorax acervorum has been controversial. Even more controversial is the relationship between the socially parasitic ant Chalepoxenus muellerianus and its host species Leptothorax unifasciatus, L. nigriceps, L. interruptus and L. recedens. On the basis of morphological, ecological and ethological criteria it has been argued that socially parasitic ants and their respective hosts always evolved from common ancestors, and hence it has been postulated that these species should be included in common taxonomical groups. This would require the division of the tribe Leptothoracini into two subgroups, one comprising the subgenus Leptothorax (s. str.) and the other the subgenus Myrafant, together with their respective parasitic genera. We have used the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to compare a 360-bp sequence of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene of 14 species belonging to the tribe Leptothoracini and an outgroup species Tetramorium impurum (Tetramoriini). The results generally agree with the morphological studies which suggest that a common ancestral species differentiated into host and parasite species. This relationship is very obvious within the Leptothorax (s. str.) group but less pronounced in the species belonging to the Myrafant group. Leptothorax (Temnothorax) recedens shows a greater sequence divergence than the outgroup species T. impurum.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1995

Different internal metabolites trigger the induction of glycolytic gene expression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

In the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the sugar-induced expression of various genes coding for glycolytic enzymes is triggered by increases in the concentrations of different internal metabolites. Here, we show that the induction of the glycolytic isoenzyme enolase 2 is strictly dependent on the abilities of different mutant strains to increase the level of glucose-6-phosphate after the addition of sugars. In contrast, the induction of alcohol dehydrogenase I is dependent on increasing concentrations of metabolites in the late stages of glycolysis.

Alcohol Dehydrogenase↗
PubMed1994

Complete DNA sequence of yeast chromosome II.

In the framework of the EU genome-sequencing programmes, the complete DNA sequence of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae chromosome II (807 188 bp) has been determined. At present, this is the largest eukaryotic chromosome entirely sequenced. A total of 410 open reading frames (ORFs) were identified, covering 72% of the sequence. Similarity searches revealed that 124 ORFs (30%) correspond to genes of known function, 51 ORFs (12.5%) appear to be homologues of genes whose functions are known, 52 others (12.5%) have homologues the functions of which are not well defined and another 33 of the novel putative genes (8%) exhibit a degree of similarity which is insufficient to confidently assign function. Of the genes on chromosome II, 37-45% are thus of unpredicted function. Among the novel putative genes, we found several that are related to genes that perform differentiated functions in multicellular organisms of are involved in malignancy. In addition to a compact arrangement of potential protein coding sequences, the analysis of this chromosome confirmed general chromosome patterns but also revealed particular novel features of chromosomal organization. Alternating regional variations in average base composition correlate with variations in local gene density along chromosome II, as observed in chromosomes XI and III. We propose that functional ARS elements are preferably located in the AT-rich regions that have a spacing of approximately 110 kb. Similarly, the 13 tRNA genes and the three Ty elements of chromosome II are found in AT-rich regions. In chromosome II, the distribution of coding sequences between the two strands is biased, with a ratio of 1.3:1. An interesting aspect regarding the evolution of the eukaryotic genome is the finding that chromosome II has a high degree of internal genetic redundancy, amounting to 16% of the coding capacity.

Base Composition↗
PubMed1994

Open reading frames in the antisense strands of genes coding for glycolytic enzymes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Open reading frames longer than 300 bases were observed in the antisense strands of the genes coding for the glycolytic enzymes phosphoglucose isomerase, phosphoglycerate mutase, pyruvate kinase and alcohol dehydrogenase I. The open reading frames on both strands are in codon register. It has been suggested that proteins coded in codon register by complementary DNA strands can bind to each other. Consequently, it was interesting to investigate whether the open reading frames in the antisense strands of glycolytic enzyme genes are functional. We used oligonucleotide-directed mutagenesis of the PGI1 phosphoglucose isomerase gene to introduce pairs of closely spaced base substitutions that resulted in stop codons in one strand and only silent replacements in the other. Introduction of the two stop codons into the PGI1 sense strand caused the same physiological defects as already observed for pgil deletion mutants. No detectable effects were caused by the two stop codons in the antisense strand. A deletion that removed a section from -31 bp to +109 bp of the PGI1 gene but left 83 bases of the 3' region beyond the antisense open reading frame had the same phenotype as a deletion removing both reading frames. A similar pair of deletions of the PYK1 gene and its antisense reading frame showed identical defects. Our own Northern experiments and those reported by other authors using double-stranded probes detected only one transcript for each gene. These observations indicate that the antisense reading frames are not functional. On the other hand, evidence is provided to show that the rather long reading frames in the antisense strands of these glycolytic enzyme genes could arise from the strongly selective codon usage in highly expressed yeast genes, which reduces the frequency of stop codons in the antisense strand.

Base Sequence↗
PubMed1994

A test for uniparental disomy in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Uniparental disomy is a condition in a diploid organisms where one parental chromosome is absent and its homolog from the other parent duplicated. It can be a cause of genetic somatic disease in mammals because of imprinting. Imprinting creates a sex-specific pattern of epigenetic gene inactivation at least in mammals and, consequently, a complete set of both maternal and paternal chromosomes is required for normal development. Moreover, it has been shown for several types of tumors that recessive tumor alleles originally present in a heterozygous condition in normal somatic tissue have become homozygous in the tumor cells. Homozygosity is frequently caused by uniparental disomy. A similar situation is found in Saccharomyces cerevisiae where the spontaneous or induced expression of linked recessive alleles flanking a common centromere is preponderantly due to isodisomy where one of the homologs is lost and the retained homolog duplicated. In contrast to the situation in Aspergillus nidulans, isodisomy does not appear to be caused by two sequential and independent events of malsegregation resulting first in an unstable trisomic condition from which a normal disomic condition is restored through segregational loss of one supernumerary chromosome. Rather, an as yet unknown mechanism seems to directly generate isodisomy and thus Saccharomyces cerevisiae could provide a short-term test for the detection of this type of genetic change.

Chromosome Deletion↗