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R B Needleman

Publications and source records attributed to R B Needleman.

13 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1990

Identification of the upstream activating sequence of MAL and the binding sites for the MAL63 activator of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Maltose fermentation in Saccharomyces species requires the presence of at least one of five unlinked MAL loci: MAL1, MAL2, MAL3, MAL4, and MAL6. Each of these loci consists of a complex of genes involved in maltose metabolism; the complex includes maltase, a maltose permease, and an activator of these genes. At the MAL6 locus, the activator is encoded by the MAL63 gene. While the MAL6 locus has been the subject of numerous studies, the binding sites of the MAL63 activator have not been determined. In this study, we used Escherichia coli extracts containing the MAL63 protein to define the binding sites of the MAL63 protein in the divergently transcribed MAL61-62 promotor. When a DNA fragment containing these sites was placed upstream of a CYC1-lacZ gene, maltose induced beta-galactosidase. These sites therefore constitute an upstream activating sequence for the MAL genes.

Base Sequence↗
PubMed1989

Identification and characterization of the maltose permease in genetically defined Saccharomyces strain.

Saccharomyces yeasts ferment several alpha-glucosides including maltose, maltotriose, turanose, alpha-methylglucoside, and melezitose. In the utilization of these sugars transport is the rate-limiting step. Several groups of investigators have described the characteristics of the maltose permease (D. E. Kroon and V. V. Koningsberger, Biochim. Biophys. Acta 204:590-609, 1970; R. Serrano, Eur. J. Biochem. 80:97-102, 1977). However, Saccharomyces contains multiple alpha-glucoside transport systems, and these studies have never been performed on a genetically defined strain shown to have only a single permease gene. In this study we isolated maltose-negative mutants in a MAL6 strain and, using a high-resolution mapping technique, we showed that one class of these mutants, the group A mutants, mapped to the MAL61 gene (a member of the MAL6 gene complex). An insertion into the N-terminal-coding region of MAL61 resulted in the constitutive production of MAL61 mRNA and rendered the maltose permease similarly constitutive. Transformation by high-copy-number plasmids containing the MAL61 gene also led to an increase in the maltose permease. A deletion-disruption of MAL61 completely abolished maltose transport activity. Taken together, these results prove that this strain has only a single maltose permease and that this permease is the product of the MAL61 gene. This permease is able to transport maltose and turanose but cannot transport maltotriose, alpha-methylglucoside, or melezitose. The construction of strains with only a single permease will allow us to identify other maltose-inducible transport systems by simple genetic tests and should lead to the identification and characterization of the multiple genes and gene products involved in alpha-glucoside transport in Saccharomyces yeasts.

Cloning, Molecular↗
PubMed1988

MAL64c is a global regulator of alpha-glucoside fermentation: identification of a new gene involved in melezitose fermentation.

Maltase constitutive mutants at the MAL6 locus have been mapped to the newly identified regulatory gene MAL64c. We show here that MAL64c has in addition pleiotropic effects on sugar fermentation: MAL64c strains constitutively synthesize an alpha-methylglucosidase and can complement a new gene, MTP1, for the fermentation of melezitose and alpha-methylglucoside. MTP1, maps near MAL1, and either encodes a permease which transports melezitose, alpha-methylglucoside, and maltose or regulates the activity of such a permease. This work shows that MAL64c, a trans-acting regulatory gene, is a global regulatory gene affecting several different pathways of alpha-glucoside metabolism.

Alleles↗
PubMed1988

MAL63 codes for a positive regulator of maltose fermentation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Genetic analysis of the MAL6 locus has previously yielded mal6 mutants which fall into a single complementation group and which are noninducible for maltase and maltose permease. However, the strains used in these studies contained additional partially functional copies of MAL1 (referred to as MAL1g) and MAL3 (referred to as MAL3g). Using a strain lacking MALg genes, we have isolated two classes of mutants and these classes correspond to mutations in MAL63 and MAL61, two genes of the MAL6 complex. Disruptions of MAL63 are noninducible for maltase and maltose permease and for their corresponding mRNAs. The mal6 mutants are shown to map to MAL63. Inducer exclusion as a cause of the noninducible phenotype of the mal63 mutations has been eliminated by constructing a mal63 mutant in a strain constitutive for maltose permease; the strain remains noninducible. These results rigorously demonstrate that MAL63 is a regulatory gene which plays a positive role in the regulation of maltose fermentation.

Chromosome Mapping↗
PubMed1988

Constitutive expression of the maltose fermentative enzymes in Saccharomyces carlsbergensis is dependent upon the mutational activation of a nonessential homolog of MAL63.

Maltose fermentation in Saccharomyces carlsbergensis is dependent upon the MAL6 locus. This complex locus is composed of the MAL61 and MAL62 genes, which encode maltose permease and maltase, respectively, and a third gene, MAL63, which codes for a trans-acting positive regulatory product. In wild-type strains, expression of the MAL61 and MAL62 mRNAs and proteins is induced by maltose and induction is dependent upon the MAL63 gene. Mutants constitutively expressing the MAL61 and MAL62 gene products have been isolated in mal63 backgrounds, and the mutations which have been analyzed map to a fourth MAL6-linked gene, MAL64. Cloning and characterization of this new gene are described in this report. The results revealed that the MAL64-C alleles present in constitutive strains encode a trans-acting positive function required for constitutive expression of the MAL61 and MAL62 gene products. In inducible strains, the MAL64 gene is dispensable, as deletion of the gene had no effect on maltose fermentation or maltose-regulated induction. MAL64 encoded transcripts of 2.0 and 1.4 kilobase pairs. While both MAL64 mRNAs were constitutively expressed in constitutive strains, they were maltose inducible in wild-type strains and induction was dependent upon the MAL63 gene. The MAL63 and MAL64 genes are at least partially structurally homologous, suggesting that they control MAL61 and MAL62 transcript accumulation by similar mechanisms.

Cloning, Molecular↗
PubMed1986

Identification of a second trans-acting gene controlling maltose fermentation in Saccharomyces carlsbergensis.

Maltose fermentation in Saccharomyces spp. requires the presence of a dominant MAL locus. The MAL6 locus has been cloned and shown to encode the structural genes for maltose permease (MAL61), maltase (MAL62), and a positively acting regulatory gene (MAL63). Induction of the MAL61 and MAL62 gene products requires the presence of maltose and the MAL63 gene. Mutations within the MAL63 gene produce nonfermenting strains unable to induce the two structural gene products. Reversion of these mal63 nonfermenters to maltose fermenters nearly always leads to the constitutive expression of maltase and maltose permease, and constitutivity is always linked to MAL6. We demonstrated that for one such revertant, strain C2, constitutivity did not require the MAL63 gene, since deletion disruption of this gene did not affect the constitutive expression of the structural genes. In addition, constitutivity was trans acting. Deletion disruption of the MAL6-linked structural genes for maltase and maltose permease in this strain did not affect the constitutive expression of a second, unlinked maltase structural gene. We isolated new maltose-fermenting revertants of a nonfermenting strain which carried a deletion disruption of the MAL63 gene. All 16 revertants isolated expressed maltase constitutively. In one revertant studied in detail, strain R10, constitutive expression was demonstrated to be linked to MAL6, semidominant, trans acting, and residing outside the MAL63-MAL61-MAL62 genes. From these studies we propose the existence of a second trans-acting regulatory gene at the MAL6 locus. We call this new gene MAL64. We mapped the MAL64 gene 2.3 centimorgans to the left of MAL63. The role of the MAL64 gene product in maltose fermentation is discussed.

Chromosome Deletion↗
PubMed1978

Purification and characterization of an alpha-glucosidase from Saccharomyces carlsbergensis.

alpha-Glucosidase (EC 3.2.1.20) was purified to homogeneity from logarithmically growing cells of Saccharomyces carlsbergensis. The purification involved the following steps: (a) ammonium sulfate fractionation; (b) Sephadex G-100 chromatography; (c) DEAE-cellulose chromatography; and (d) hydroxylapatite chromatography. This procedure gave a preparation judged to be greater than 98% pure by Na-DodSO4-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The enzyme was shown to be a monomer of 63 000 daltons by gel filtration on Sephacryl S-200 under native conditions and by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis under denaturing conditions. The Km values of the enzyme for the substrates maltose and p-nitrophenyl alpha-D-glucoside were found to be 1.66 X 10(-2) and 3.1 X 10(-4) M, respectively. The corresponding Vmax value for maltose was 44.8 X 10(-6) mol min(-1) mg(-1) and that for p-nitrophenyl alpha-D-glucoside was 134 X 10(-6) mol min-1 mg-1. The pH optimum for the purified enzyme was found to be between pH 6.7 and 6.8. The enzyme has an absolute anomeric specificity for alpha-glycosidic linkages and appears to recognize a glucosyl residue in alpha linkage on the nonreducing end of its substrate. For the strain used in this study, which carries the MAL 6 locus, only a single form of the enzyme was detected.

Amino Acids↗
PubMed1975

Assembly of the mitochondrial membrane system. Characterization of nuclear mutants of Saccharomyces cerevisiae with defects in mitochondrial ATPase and respiratory enzymes.

Mutants of Saccharomyces cereviaiae showing defects in cytochrome oxidase, coenzyme QH2-cytochrome c reductase, and rutamycin-sensitive ATPase are described. The mutations have been established to be nuclear, based on complementation with a cytoplasmic petite tester strain and 2:2 segregation of tetrads. Genetic analysis indicate the coenzyme QH2-cytochrome c reductase and cytochrome oxidase mutants fall into 9 and 10 different complementation groups, respectively. The mutants also form distinct classes based on absorption spectra of the mitochondrial cytochromes. Two of the ATPase mutants lack detectable F1 ATPase, while the third synthesizes F1 but does not integrate it into a membrane complex. The latter mutant is missing one of the mitochondrially synthesized subunits of the rutamycin-sensitive ATPase complex.

Adenosine Triphosphatases↗
PubMed1975

Assembly of the mitochondrial membrane system. Cytoplasmic mutants of Saccharomyces cerevisiae with lesions in enzymes of the respiratory chain and in the mitochondrial ATPase.

Mutants of Saccharomyces cervisiae with defects in enzymes of the electron transfer chain and in the rutamycin-sensitive ATPase have been isolated. Some of the mutants are specifically affected in either cytochrome oxidase, coenzyme QH2-cytochrome c reductase or ATPase. Other strains are deficient in both cytochrome oxidase and coenzyme QH2-cytochrome c reductase but still have rutamycin-sensitive ATPase. All the mutants reported in this study fail to be complemented by a rho0 tester derived from a respiratory competent strain. The meiotic spore progeny obtained by mating the mutants to a respiratory competent haploid yeast, when scored for growth on glycerol, show a non-Mendelian segregation of the phenotype. These two genetic tests indicate the mutations to be cytoplasmically inherited.

Adenosine Triphosphatases↗
PubMed1975

Properties of cytoplasmic mutants of Saccharomyces cerevisiae with specific lesions in cytochrome oxidase.

Two mutants with specific defects in cytochrome c oxidase (ferrocytochrome c:oxygen oxidoreductase; EC 1.9.3.1) have been isolated from cultures of Saccharomyces cerevisiae exposed to the mutagens ethyl-methane sulfonate and Mn++. The mutations have been shown to be extranuclear by two criteria. The phenotype persists in diploids formed by a cross with a p-o strain of yeast of the opposite mating type. Tetrad analysis indicates a non-Mendelian segregation (4:0 and 0:4) of the mutations. Both mutants show a total absence of cytochrome oxidase activity and of spectral cytochromes a and as. One of the mutants has been shown to be missing a polypeptide synthesized by mitochondria. The migration of this protein on polyacrylamide gels corresponds to the highest-molecular-weight subunit of cytochrome oxidase.

Diploidy↗
PubMed1975

Assembly of the mitochondrial membrane system: isolation of nuclear and cytoplasmic mutants of Saccharomyces cerevisiae with specific defects in mitochondrial functions.

A selection procedure is described which permits a large number of Saccharomyces cerevisiae mutants to be screened for specific lesions in mitochondrial respiratory enzymes and the adenosine triphosphatase. The method has been used to isolate nuclear mutant strains with specific lesions in coenzyme QH2-cytochrome c reductase, cytochrome oxidase, and adenosine triphosphatase. In addition, two cytoplasmic mutants have been found whose primary defect is in cytochrome oxidase, and others have been found that show variable degrees of abnormalities in their mitochondrial translation products.

Adenosine Triphosphatases↗