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G H Braus

Publications and source records attributed to G H Braus.

66 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed1993

Analysis of feedback-resistant anthranilate synthases from Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The initial step of tryptophan biosynthesis is catalyzed by the enzyme anthranilate synthase, which in most microorganisms is subject to feedback inhibition by the end product of the pathway. We have characterized the TRP2 gene from a mutant Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain coding for an anthranilate synthase that is unresponsive to tryptophan. Sequence analysis of this TRP2(Fbr) (feedback-resistant) allele revealed numerous differences from a previously published TRP2 sequence. However, TRP2(Fbr) was found to differ in only one single-point mutation from its own parent wild type, a C-to-T transition resulting in a serine 76-to-leucine 76 amino acid substitution. Therefore, serine 76 is a crucial amino acid for proper regulation of the yeast enzyme. We constructed additional feedback-resistant enzyme forms of the yeast anthranilate synthase by site-directed mutagenesis of the conserved LLES sequence in the TRP2 gene. From analysis of these variants, we propose an extended sequence, LLESX10S, as the regulatory element in tryptophan-responsive anthranilate synthases from prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1992

The yeast actin intron contains a cryptic promoter that can be switched on by preventing transcriptional interference.

We show that the single intron of the actin gene of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae contains a cryptic promoter for transcription of the second exon. This promoter is inactive in the normal actin gene, but can be activated when the actin gene promoter is deleted. An identical activation was induced by placing efficient transcriptional terminators at position 61 of the 309 bp intron. In all cases transcripts with identical 5' ends close to the boundary of the intron and the second exon were produced. These results indicate that the cryptic promoter in the actin intron is occluded in the normal actin gene by transcriptional interference with the actin gene promoter. Transcription initiation near the intron/exon 2 boundary is enabled by protection from traversing polymerases, that initiated transcription at the upstream located actin gene promoter. A partial promoter protection using leaky terminators resulted in small amounts of transcripts initiated from the cryptic promoter. Although we do not know any function of the cryptic promoter in actin gene expression, it is tentative to speculate that the cryptic intron promoter might be a relict of a promoter that was functional earlier in evolution.

Actins↗
PubMed1992

Cloning, primary structure and regulation of the ARO4 gene, encoding the tyrosine-inhibited 3-deoxy-D-arabino-heptulosonate-7-phosphate synthase from Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, two differently regulated 3-deoxy-D-arabino-heptulosonate-7-phosphate (DAHP) synthase (DAHPS; EC 4.1.2.15) isoenzymes carry out the first step in the shikimate pathway. Mutations in both genes are necessary to cause aromatic amino acid (aa) auxotrophy, since one isoenzyme alone is sufficient to produce enough DAHP for normal growth of the cells. The phenylalanine-inhibited DAHPS is encoded by the previously isolated and characterized ARO3 gene. Here, we report the cloning and characterization of the ARO4 gene, encoding the second DAHPS, which is inhibited by tyrosine. The aa sequence of the ARO4 gene product reveals 76% similarity to the ARO3-encoded isoenzyme and 66 and 73% to the three DAHPS isoenzymes from Escherichia coli. ARO4 gene expression is regulated by the general control system of aa biosynthesis. As in the case of the ARO3 gene, a single GCN4-recognition element in the promoter is responsible for derepression of the ARO4 gene under aa starvation conditions. However, in contrast to the situation in the isogene, ARO3, GCN4 does not contribute to the basal level of ARO4 transcription under nonderepressing conditions.

3-Deoxy-7-Phosphoheptulonate Synthase↗
PubMed1992

Sequence-specific initiator elements focus initiation of transcription to distinct sites in the yeast TRP4 promoter.

Transcription from the yeast TRP4 promoter initiates at two basal (i127 and i76) and three GCN4 dependent (i31, i25 and i12) initiator elements. All of these elements contain not more than one deviation from the earlier proposed initiator consensus sequence PuPuPyPuPu, a pyrimidine nucleotide flanked on either side by two purine nucleotides. A point mutation analysis of these elements in various combinations was performed and revealed that the central pyrimidine nucleotide and at least one of the 3' flanking purine nucleotides of the PuPuPyPuPu consensus sequence are essential but alone not sufficient to define a functional initiator element. Multiple cryptic transcription start sites, which function independently whether they are located on the coding or the non-coding strand, can replace the function of mutated initiator elements and therefore the overall level of transcription initiation is not affected. The sequence specificity is identical for basal and GCN4 dependent initiator elements demonstrating that they are functionally homologous. These findings imply that the role of initiator elements is to 'focus' the start point(s) of transcription to distinct sites located in the region between the site(s) of the assembly of the transcriptional complex and the start codon of translation.

Anthranilate Phosphoribosyltransferase↗
PubMed1992

Different sequence elements are required for function of the cauliflower mosaic virus polyadenylation site in Saccharomyces cerevisiae compared with in plants.

We show that the polyadenylation site derived from the plant cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) is specifically functional in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The mRNA 3' endpoints were mapped at the same position in yeast cells as in plants, and the CaMV polyadenylation site was recognized in an orientation-dependent manner. Mutational analysis of the CaMV 3'-end-formation signal revealed that multiple elements are essential for proper activity in yeast cells, including two upstream elements that are situated more than 100 and 43 to 51 nucleotides upstream of the poly(A) addition site and the sequences at or near the poly(A) addition site. A comparison of the sequence elements that are essential for proper function of the CaMV signal in yeast cells and plants showed that both organisms require a distal and a proximal upstream element but that these sequence elements are not identical in yeast cells and plants. The key element for functioning of the CaMV signal in yeast cells is the sequence TAGTATGTA, which is similar to a sequence previously proposed to act in yeast cells as a bipartite signal, namely, TAG ... TATGTA. Deletion of this sequence in the CaMV polyadenylation signal abolished 3'-end formation in yeast cells, and a single point mutation in this motif reduced the activity of the CaMV signal to below 15%. These results indicate that the bipartite sequence element acts as a signal for 3'-end formation in yeast cells but only together with other cis-acting elements.

Aldehyde Dehydrogenase↗
PubMed1991

Transcriptional activation of yeast nucleotide biosynthetic gene ADE4 by GCN4.

The yeast transcriptional regulator protein GCN4 harbors the bZIP DNA binding motif, which is common to a family of DNA-binding proteins in eukaryotic organisms from yeast to man. GCN4 and the mammalian activator protein AP-1 (jun/fos) regulate transcription by binding the same consensus DNA sequence ATGA (C/G)TCAT. GCN4 positively regulates the production of precursors of protein synthesis in yeast cells in response to the environmental signal "amino acid starvation." We find three GCN4 responsive elements (GCREs) in the 5'-flanking region of the purine biosynthetic gene ADE4 and demonstrate that GCN4 efficiently activates transcription of ADE4. Two GCREs are essential to synergistically activate ADE4 transcription by binding GCN4. The distal GCRE1 is also required for basal transcription of ADE4. Therefore, transcription factor GCN4 affects, in addition to protein biosynthesis, also nucleotide biosynthesis and, comparable to its mammalian counterpart AP-1, has a more general function within the yeast cell than previously assumed.

Base Sequence↗
PubMed1991

Molecular cloning, characterization and analysis of the regulation of the ARO2 gene, encoding chorismate synthase, of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

We describe here the cloning, characterization and analysis of the regulation of the ARO2 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the first reported study of a eukaryotic gene encoding chorismate synthase (E.C. 4.6.1.4). The gene contains an ORF of 1128 bp, encoding a protein with a calculated molecular mass of 40.8 kDa. ARO2 is regulated under the 'general control system' for amino acid biosynthesis by the transcriptional activator GCN4 which binds in vitro at three sites within the ARO2 promoter. The ARO2 gene product is highly similar to its Escherichia coli counterpart, with a 47% identity distributed over the entire length of the peptide. We therefore suggest that the S. cerevisiae chorismate synthase, in contrast to the Neurospora crassa enzyme, but like other chorismate synthases, is a monofunctional peptide, solely possessing chorismate synthase activity.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1991

Different classes of polyadenylation sites in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

This report provides an analysis of the function of polyadenylation sites from six different genes of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. These sites were tested for their ability to turn off read-through transcription into the URA3 gene in vivo when inserted into an ACT-URA3 fusion gene. The 3' ends of all polyadenylation sites inserted into the test system in their natural configuration are identical to the 3' ends of the chromosomal genes. We identified two classes of polyadenylation sites: (i) efficient sites (originating from the genes GCN4 and PHO5) that were functional in a strict orientation-dependent manner and (ii) bidirectional sites (derived from ARO4, TRP1, and TRP4) that had a distinctly reduced efficiency. The ADH1 polyadenylation site was efficient and bidirectional and was shown to be a combination of two polyadenylation sites of two convergently transcribed genes. Sequence comparison revealed that all efficient unidirectional polyadenylation sites contain the sequence TTTTTAT, whereas all bidirectional sites have the tripartite sequence TAG...TA (T)GT...TTT. Both sequence elements have previously been proposed to be involved in 3' end formation. Site-directed point mutagenesis of the TTTTTAT sequence had no effect, whereas mutations within the tripartite sequence caused a reduced efficiency for 3' end formation. The tripartite sequence alone, however, is not sufficient for 3' end formation, but it might be part of a signal sequence in the bidirectional class of yeast polyadenylation sites. Our findings support the assumption that there are at least two different mechanisms with different sequence elements directing 3' end formation in yeast.

Base Sequence↗
PubMed1991

Aromatic amino acid biosynthesis in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae: a model system for the regulation of a eukaryotic biosynthetic pathway.

This review focuses on the gene-enzyme relationships and the regulation of different levels of the aromatic amino acid biosynthetic pathway in a simple eukaryotic system, the unicellular yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Most reactions of this branched pathway are common to all organisms which are able to synthesize tryptophan, phenylalanine, and tyrosine. The current knowledge about the two main control mechanisms of the yeast aromatic amino acid biosynthesis is reviewed. (i) At the transcriptional level, most structural genes are regulated by the transcriptional activator GCN4, the regulator of the general amino acid control network, which couples transcriptional derepression to amino acid starvation of numerous structural genes in multiple amino acid biosynthetic pathways. (ii) At the enzyme level, the carbon flow is controlled mainly by modulating the enzyme activities at the first step of the pathway and at the branch points by feedback action of the three aromatic amino acid end products. Implications of these findings for the relationship of S. cerevisiae to prokaryotic as well as to higher eukaryotic organisms and for general regulatory mechanisms occurring in a living cell such as initiation of transcription, enzyme regulation, and the regulation of a metabolic branch point are discussed.

Base Sequence↗
PubMed1990

A GCN4 protein recognition element is not sufficient for GCN4-dependent regulation of transcription in the ARO7 promoter of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The gene ARO7 encodes the monofunctional enzyme chorismate mutase, a branch point enzyme in the aromatic amino acid biosynthetic pathway in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We investigated the transcription of the ARO7 gene. Three 5' ends at positions -36, -56 and -73 and the 3' end of the transcripts 146 bp downstream of the translational stop codon were mapped. As in the promoters of other aromatic amino acid biosynthetic genes, a recognition element for the GCN4 transcriptional activator of amino acid biosynthesis is located 425 base pairs (bp) upstream of the first transcriptional start point. This element binds GCN4 specifically in vitro. Northern analysis and determination of the specific enzyme activity reveals however, that the element is not sufficient to mediate transcriptional regulation by GCN4 in vivo. We thus suggest that in addition to a consensus sequence capable of binding the GCN4 protein other factors like, for example, chromatin structure, determine whether a recognition site for a transcription factor functions as an upstream activation sequence.

Blotting, Northern↗
PubMed1988

The role of the TRP1 gene in yeast tryptophan biosynthesis.

Transcription of the gene for phosphoribosyl-anthranilate isomerase (TRP1) from the TRP1 promoter is initiated only approximately half as frequently as, for example, from the TRP3 promoter, but TRP1 mRNA is approximately twice as stable as TRP3 mRNA. Therefore, the steady state amount of TRP1 mRNA in yeast cells, grown without amino acid limitation, is similar to the steady-state amount of TRP3 mRNA. The protein concentration of both enzymes in yeast cells is about the same, but the basal specific enzyme activity in permeabilized cells of the TRP1 gene product N-(5'-phosphoribosyl-1)-anthranilate isomerase is about 2-3 times higher than that of any of the other TRP enzymes. According to the kinetic parameters of the purified isomerase protein, the enzyme is more active than, for example, the purified TRP3 enzyme indoleglycerol-phosphate synthase. It is suggested that the TRP1 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae might be the result of a rearrangement event, separating the N-(5'-phosphoribosyl-1)-anthranilate isomerase domain from the indoleglycerol-phosphate synthase domain and putting the catalytically more active isomerase domain behind a weak and nonregulated constitutive promoter.

Aldose-Ketose Isomerases↗