Biomedical subjects

M Labouesse

Publications and source records attributed to M Labouesse.

29 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

PubMed1994

The Caenorhabditis elegans gene lin-26 is required to specify the fates of hypodermal cells and encodes a presumptive zinc-finger transcription factor.

The mutation lin-26(n156) prevents vulva formation in C. elegans by transforming the vulval precursor cells into neurons or neuroblasts. We have isolated and characterized three new lin-26 alleles, which result in embryonic lethality. These mutations cause a few other hypodermal cells to express a neural fate and most hypodermal cells to degenerate. lin-26 encodes a presumptive zinc-finger transcription factor. Our data indicate that lin-26 is required for cells to acquire the hypodermal fate.

Alleles↗

PubMed1992

In vitro mutagenesis of the mitochondrial leucyl-tRNA synthetase of S. cerevisiae reveals residues critical for its in vivo activities.

The mitochondrial leucyl-tRNA synthetase (mLRS) of Saccharomyces cerevisiae is involved in both mitochondrial protein synthesis and pre-mRNA splicing. We have created mutations in the regions HIGH, GWD and KMSKS, which are involved in ATP-, amino acid- and tRNA-binding respectively, and which have been conserved in the evolution of group I tRNA synthetases. The mutants GRD and NMSKS have no discernible phenotype. The mutants AWD and ARD act as null alleles and lead to the production of 100% cytoplasmic petites. The mutants HIGN, NIGH and KMSNS are unable to grow on glycerol even in the presence of an intronless mitochondrial genome and accumulate petites to a greater extent than the wild-type but less than 40%. Experiments with an imported bI4 maturase indicate that the lesion in these mutations primarily affects the synthetase and not the splicing functions.

Base Sequence↗

PubMed1991

Purification and characterization of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae mitochondrial leucyl-tRNA synthetase.

We have purified the product of the NAM2 gene, the mitochondrial leucyl-tRNA synthetase, from yeast mitochondria. The purified protein cross-reacts with antibodies raised against the product of a LacZ/NAM2 gene fusion and antibodies raised against the purified Escherichia coli leucyl-tRNA synthetase. The mass as determined by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis is about 100 kDa, consistent with the size predicted by the gene sequence (102 kDa). The N-terminal sequence of the protein has been determined and shows that the first nine amino acids predicted by the gene sequence have been removed, probably during transport into the mitochondria.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗

PubMed1990

The yeast mitochondrial leucyl-tRNA synthetase is a splicing factor for the excision of several group I introns.

The Saccharomyces cerevisiae nuclear gene NAM2 codes for mitochondrial leucyl-tRNA synthetase (mLRS). Herbert et al. (1988, EMBO J 7:473-483) proposed that this protein is involved in mitochondrial RNA splicing. Here we present the construction and analyses of nine mutations obtained by creating two-codon insertions within the NAM2 gene. Three of these prevent respiration while maintaining the mitochondrial genome. These three mutants: (1) display in vitro a mLRS activity ranging from 0%-50% that of the wild type: (2) allow in vivo the synthesis of several mitochondrially encoded proteins; (3) prevent the synthesis of the COXII protein but not of its mRNA; (4) abolish the splicing of the group I introns bI4 and aI4; and (5) affect significantly the excision of the group I introns bI2, bI3 and aI3. Importation of the bI4 maturase from the cytoplasm into mitochondria in a nam2- mutant strain does not restore the excision of the introns bI4 and aI4 implying that the splicing deficiency does not result from the absence of the bI4 maturase. We conclude that the mLRS is a splicing factor essential for the excision of the group I introns bI4 and aI4 and probably important for the excision of other group I introns.

Cell Nucleus↗

PubMed1988

The NAM2 proteins from S. cerevisiae and S. douglasii are mitochondrial leucyl-tRNA synthetases, and are involved in mRNA splicing.

We have cloned and sequenced the NAM2 gene of Saccharomyces douglasii, which is a homologue of the NAM2 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The wild-type S.douglasii gene possesses the suppressor functions of the mutant S. cerevisiae NAM2-1 allele, being able to cure a mitochondrial b14 maturase deficiency. By sequence comparisons and direct measurements we have demonstrated that the NAM2 genes encode mitochondrial leucyl tRNA synthetases (EC 6.1.1.4.). Using a derivative of the NAM2 gene, where the expression of the gene is under the control of the UAS GAL10, we have shown that the processing of the pre-mRNA from the two mosaic genes oxi3 and cob-box is impaired when transcription of the gene is repressed. These results lead us to conclude that the mitochondrial leucyl tRNA synthetase is involved in protein synthesis and mRNA splicing. Sequence comparisons show that the mitochondrial and Escherichia coli leucyl tRNA synthetases are highly homologous; however, significant features which may be important for the splicing functions of the mitochondrial enzymes are absent from the bacterial enzyme.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMed1988

Divergence of the mitochondrial leucyl tRNA synthetase genes in two closely related yeasts Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Saccharomyces douglasii: a paradigm of incipient evolution.

We studied the NAM2 genes of Saccharomyces douglasii and Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and showed that they are interchangeable for all the known functions of these genes, both mitochondrial protein synthesis and mitochondrial mRNA splicing. This confirms the prediction that the S. douglasii NAM2D gene encodes the mitochondrial leucyl tRNA synthetase (EC 6.1.1.4.). The observation that these enzymes are interchangeable for their mRNA splicing functions, even though there are significant differences in the intron/exon structure of their mitochondrial genome, suggests that they may have a general role in yeast mitochondrial RNA splicing. A short open reading frame (ORF) precedes the synthetase-encoding ORF, and we showed that at least in S. cerevisiae this is not essential for the expression of the gene; however, it may be involved in a more subtle type of regulation. Sequence comparisons of S. douglasii and S. cerevisiae revealed a particularly interesting situation from the evolutionary point of view. It appears that the two yeasts have diverged relatively recently: there is remarkable nucleotide sequence conservation, with no deletions or insertions, but numerous (albeit non-saturating) silent substitutions resulting from transitions. This applies not only to the NAM2 coding regions, but also to two other ORFs flanking the NAM2 ORF. The regions between the ORFs (believed to be intergenic regions) are much less conserved, with several deletions and insertions. Thus S. douglasii and S. cerevisiae provide an ideal system for the study of molecular evolution, being two yeasts "caught in the act" of speciation.

Alleles↗

PubMed1987

Three suppressor mutations which cure a mitochondrial RNA maturase deficiency occur at the same codon in the open reading frame of the nuclear NAM2 gene.

Dominant mutations of the nuclear NAM2 gene are able to compensate for a deficiency of the maturase encoded by the fourth intron of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene. We have determined the complete nucleotide sequence of the NAM2-1 suppressor allele. The results of S1 nuclease protection experiments show that two overlapping poly(A)+ RNAs are transcribed from the gene using different promoters. The longer transcript contains two open reading frames (ORFs), a long ORF which could encode a protein of 894 amino acids, mol. wt 102,000 daltons, and a short ORF of 51 codons which is omitted from the shorter transcript. The wild-type nam2+ and two other suppressor alleles, NAM2-6 and NAM2-7, have been cloned. A comparison of the sequence of the wild-type and the three suppressor alleles shows that on three separate occasions the same codon specifying glycine was mutated (once to serine and twice to cysteine). Finally sequence comparisons identified two regions in the long ORF, distinct from the position of the suppressor mutations, that could correspond to binding domains for a nucleotide and a nucleic acid.

Alleles↗

PubMed1985

The yeast nuclear gene NAM2 is essential for mitochondrial DNA integrity and can cure a mitochondrial RNA-maturase deficiency.

Dominant mutations in the yeast nuclear gene NAM2 cure the RNA splicing deficiency resulting from the inactivation of the bI4 maturase encoded by the fourth intron of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene. This maturase is required to splice the fourth intron of this gene and to splice the fourth intron of the mitochondrial gene oxi3 encoding cytochrome oxidase subunit I. We have cloned the nuclear gene NAM2, which codes for two overlapping RNAs, 3.2 kb and 3.0 kb long, which are transcribed in the same direction but differ at their 5' ends. NAM2 compensating mutations probably result from point mutations in the structural gene. Integration of the cloned gene occurs at its homologous locus on the right arm of chromosome XII. Inactivation of the NAM2 gene either by transplacement with a deleted copy of the gene, or by disruption, is not lethal to the cell, but leads to the destruction of the mitochondrial genome with the production of 100% cytoplasmic petites.

Cloning, Molecular↗

PubMed1984

Molecular basis of the 'box effect', A maturase deficiency leading to the absence of splicing of two introns located in two split genes of yeast mitochondrial DNA.

In the mitochondrial DNA of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the genes cob-box and oxi3, coding for apocytochrome b and cytochrome oxidase subunit I respectively, are split. Several mutations located in the introns of the cob-box gene prevent the synthesis of cytochrome b and cytochrome oxidase subunit I (this is known as the 'box effect').-We have elucidated the molecular basis of this phenomenon: these mutants are unable to excise the fourth intron of oxi3 from the cytochrome oxidase subunit I pre-mRNA; the absence of a functional bI4 mRNA maturase, a trans-acting factor encoded by the fourth intron of the cob-box gene explains this phenomenon. This maturase was already known to control the excision of the bI4 intron; consequently we have demonstrated that it is necessary for the processing of two introns located in two different genes. Mutations altering this maturase can be corrected, but only partially, by extragenic suppressors located in the mitochondrial (mim2) or in the nuclear (NAM2) genome. The gene product of these two suppressors should, therefore, control (directly or indirectly) the excision of the two introns as the bI4 mRNA maturase normally does.

Base Sequence↗

PubMed1983

Construction of novel cytochrome b genes in yeast mitochondria by subtraction or addition of introns.

The mitochondrial cob-box gene coding for apocytochrome b in yeast has five introns and six exons or two introns and three exons depending on the wild-type strain considered. Some intron mutations in this gene affect not only its expression but also that of another mitochondrial gene: oxi3. To understand better the function of introns in gene expression, we have constructed a series of new strains that differ only by the presence or absence of one of the five wild-type introns in the cytochrome b gene, the rest of the mitochondrial and nuclear genome remaining unchanged. All constructions result from in vivo recombination events between rho- donor and rho+ recipient mtDNA. The following genes have been constructed: [see text]. Interestingly, all the genes lead to the synthesis of cytochrome b, while only the genes having the intron bI4 allow the expression of oxi3. A nuclear gene, when mutated, can compensate for the absence of the intron bI4.

Cytochrome b Group↗

PubMedDate not supplied

A family of low and high copy replicative, integrative and single-stranded S. cerevisiae/E. coli shuttle vectors.

We describe a set of replicative, integrative and single-stranded shuttle vectors constructed from the pUC19 plasmid that we use routinely in our experiments. They bear a yeast selectable marker: URA3, TRP1 or LEU2. Replicative vectors carrying different yeast replication origins have been constructed in order to have plasmids based on the same construction with a high or low copy number per cell and with different mitotic stabilities. All the vectors are small in size, provide a high yield in Escherichia coli and efficiently transform Saccharomyces cerevisiae. These plasmids have many of the unique sites of the pUC19 multicloning region and many of them allow for the screening of plasmids with an insert by alpha-complementation. The nucleotide sequence of each of them is completely known.

Base Sequence↗