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We have analysed a new gene, CEM1, from Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Inactivation of this gene leads to a respiratory-deficient phenotype. The deduced protein sequence shows strong similarities with β-keto-acyl synthases or condensing enzymes. Typically, enzymes of this class are involved in the synthesis of fatty acids or similar molecules. An analysis of the mitochondrial lipids and fatty acids shows no major difference between the wild type and deleted strains, implying that the CEM1 gene product is not involved in the synthesis of the bulk fatty acids. Thus it is possible that the CEM1 protein is involved in the synthesis of a specialized molecule, probably related to a fatty acid, which is essential for mitochondrial respiration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

RIA1 (YNL163c) is a quasi-essential gene that encodes a protein with strong similarities to elongation factors 2. Small C-terminal deletions in the protein lead to a severe growth defect. In the case of a 22-residue C-terminal deletion this can be suppressed by intragenic mutations in the RIA1 gene or dominant extragenic mutations in TIF6, which is thought to be involved in the biogenesis of the 60S subunit of the ribosome. The dominant TIF6 alleles can also suppress the phenotype associated with a complete deletion of the RIA1 gene. Depletion of Ria1p has a dramatic effect on the polysome profile: there is a severe reduction in the level of the 80S monosomes, an imbalance in the 40S/60S ratio, and halfmers appear. Dissociation of the monosomes and polysomes in the Ria1p depletion mutant revealed a specific reduction in the amount of 60S subunits. Localization experiments with HA-tagged derivatives of Ria1p did not detect any stable association of Ria1p with ribosome subunits, 80S monosomes or polysomes. Cell fractionation experiments show that Ria1p is found in both the cytoplasmic fraction and the nuclear fraction. Taken together, these data suggest that Ria1p is involved in the biogenesis of the 60S subunit of the ribosome.

We have studied the CBK1 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which encodes a conserved protein kinase similar to the human myotonic dystrophy kinase. We have shown that the subcellular localization of the protein, Cbk1p, varies in a cell cycle-dependent manner. Three phenotypes are associated with the inactivation of the CBK1 gene: large aggregates of cells, round rather than ellipsoidal cells and a change from a bipolar to a random budding pattern. Two-hybrid and extragenic suppressor studies have linked Cbk1p with the transcription factor Ace2p, which is responsible for the transcription of chitinase. Cbk1p is necessary for the activation of Ace2p and we have shown that the aggregation phenotype is due to a lack of chitinase expression. The random budding pattern and the round cell phenotype of the CBK1 deletion strain show that in addition to its role in regulating chitinase expression via Ace2p, Cbk1p is essential for a wild-type morphological development of the cell.

We have deleted the yeast gene YJR025c and shown that this leads to an auxotrophy for nicotinic acid. The deduced protein sequence of the gene product is homologous to the human 3-hydroxyanthranilic acid dioxygenase (EC 1.13.11.6) which is part of the kynurenine pathway for the degradation of tryptophan and the biosynthesis of nicotinic acid. In cell-free extracts the 3-hydroxyanthranilic acid dioxygenase activity is proportional to the copy number of the YJR025c gene. As YJR025c encodes the yeast 3-hydroxyanthranilic acid dioxygenase, we have named this gene BNA1 for biosynthesis of nicotinic acid.

We have determined the complete nucleotide sequence of a 24.3 kb segment from chromosome X carried by the cosmid pEJ103. The sequence encodes five complete open reading frames (ORFs), none of which correspond to previously described genes; however, four of these ORFs display interesting similarities with sequences present in the databanks. The sequence also contains a tandem insertion of a Ty1 element. An investigation of the Ty1 polymorphism in other strains has revealed that the original insertion occurred within an ORF. Finally, the structure of the Ty1 repeat suggests a mechanism by which it may have been generated.

mna2, which belongs to the class I temperature-sensitive pet mutants that lose mitochondrial (mt)RNA at restrictive temperature, was shown by complementation and sequence determination to correspond to the gene coding for HSP60. Both mna2-1 and mna2-2, the two available alleles of mna2, have conservative single amino acid substitutions in the HSP60 gene. Valine substitutes for an alanine (position 47) in mna2-1, and an isoleucine substitutes for a valine (position 77) in mna2-2. These substitutions result in defects in respiration and in steady-state mtRNA accumulation. Wild-type hsp60 alleviates the mtRNA phenotype completely, while partially relieving the respiratory deficiency.

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.

We have isolated an extragenic suppressor, FAM1-1, which is able to restore respiratory growth to a deletion of the CEM1 gene (mitochondrial beta-keto-acyl synthase). The sequence of the suppressor strongly suggests that it encodes a long-chain fatty acid CoA ligase (fatty-acyl-CoA synthetase). We have also cloned and sequenced the wild-type FAM1 gene, which is devoid of suppressor activity. The comparison of the two sequences shows that the suppressor mutation is an A-->T transversion, which creates a new initiation codon and adds 18 amino acids to the N-terminus of the protein. This extension has all the characteristics of a mitochondrial targeting sequence, whilst the N-terminus of the wild-type protein has none of these characteristics. In vitro mitochondrial import experiments show that the N-terminal half of the suppressor protein, but not of the wild-type, is transported into mitochondria. Thus, we hypothesize that the suppressor acts by changing the subcellular localization of the protein and relocating at least some of the enzyme from the cytosol to the mitochondria. These results support the hypothesis that some form of fatty acid synthesis, specific for the mitochondria, is essential for the function of the organelle.

We have determined the complete nucleotide sequence of a 12.5 kb segment from the right arm of chromosome II carried by the cosmid alpha 20. The sequence encodes the 5' end of the IRA1 gene. Two complete new open reading frames and the 3' non-coding region of the SUP1 (SUP45) gene. A comparison of our sequence with the data bank reveals a 154 amino acid extension at the N-terminus of Ira1p compared to the previously predicted sequence. According to the 11th edition of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae genetic map, our sequence should encode the MAK5 gene, which is necessary for the maintenance of dsRNA killer plasmids. One of the two new open reading frames, YBR1119, is predicted to encode an RNA helicase, thus YBR1119 may correspond to the MAK5 gene.

The gene YBR1012 was identified during the systematic sequencing of chromosome II of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We have inactivated the gene and shown that it is essential for cellular viability. Using antisense RNA technology we have constructed a conditional allele, expression of the antisense RNA strongly inhibits growth. To our knowledge this is the first successful use of antisense RNA technology in S. cerevisiae. Comparison of the deduced ybr1012p sequence with the data banks revealed the presence of a putative phosphatidylinositol kinase domain and a strong homology to the Schizosaccharomyces pombe rad3p. These results suggest that ybr1012p may be involved in signal transduction, possibly related to the control of replication and/or DNA damage repair. The link with DNA damage repair was reinforced by the isolation of the DUN1 gene as a multicopy suppressor of the YBR1012 deletion.

We have determined the complete nucleotide sequence of a 29.7 kb segment from the right arm of chromosome II carried by the cosmid alpha 61. The sequence encodes the 3' region of the IRA1 gene and 13 complete open reading frames, of which ten correspond to new genes and three (CIF1, ATPsv and CKS1) have been sequenced previously. The density of protein coding sequences is particularly high and corresponds to 84% of the total length. Two new genes encode membrane proteins, one of which is particularly large, 273 kDa. In one case (ATPsv), the comparison of our sequence and the published sequence reveals significant differences.

Optical switching and optical bistability and multistability are observed experimentally with a nonlinear periodic structure. The periodic dielectric is a colloidal crystal that exhibits a large electrostrictive nonlinearity. The transmission characteristics of these crystals as a function of incident intensity are presented for several different frequencies of light within the stopgap of the periodic structures.

We have analysed a new gene, CEM1, from Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Inactivation of this gene leads to a respiratory-deficient phenotype. The deduced protein sequence shows strong similarities with beta-keto-acyl synthases or condensing enzymes. Typically, enzymes of this class are involved in the synthesis of fatty acids or similar molecules. An analysis of the mitochondrial lipids and fatty acids shows no major difference between the wild type and deleted strains, implying that the CEM1 gene product is not involved in the synthesis of the bulk fatty acids. Thus it is possible that the CEM1 protein is involved in the synthesis of a specialized molecule, probably related to a fatty acid, which is essential for mitochondrial respiration.

We present observations of optical power limiting using a thermal nonlinearity in a dye-doped colloidal crystal. The transmission of the crystal is studied as a function of the incident intensity for various dye concentrations, lattice spacings, and wavelengths. We have found that optical limiting occurs when the wavelength of the incident light is tuned to the blue edge of the stop gap of these structures. Limiting intensities near 10 kW/cm(2) have been obtained for colloidal solutions with 10(-5) M Kiton Red dye. The experimental results are compared with theoretical models of nonlinear distributive-feedback structures in which the nonlinearity is assumed to be thermal.

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.

We have developed a rapid and simple methodology to locate yeast genes within cloned inserts, obtain partial sequence information, and construct chromosomal disruptions of these genes. This methodology has been used to study a nuclear gene from the yeast S. douglasii (a close relative of S. cerevisiae), which is essential for the excision of the mitochondrial intron aI1 of S. douglasii (the first intron in the gene encoding subunit I of cytochrome oxidase), an intron which is not present in the mitochondrial genome of S. cerevisiae. We have shown that this gene is the homologue of the S. cerevisiae MRS1 gene, which is essential for the excision of the mitochondrial introns bI3 and aI5 beta of S. cerevisiae, but is unable to assure the excision of the intron aI1 from the coxI gene of S. douglasii. The two genes are very similar, with only 13% nucleotide substitutions in the coding region, transitions being 2.5 times more frequent than transvertions. At the protein level there are 86% identical residues and 7% conservative substitutions. The divergence of the MRS1 genes of S. cerevisiae and S. douglasii, and the concomitant changes in the structure of their mitochondrial genomes is an interesting example of the co-evolution of nuclear and mitochondrial genomes.

We have entirely sequenced YCR59, which is a 10.1 kb segment of the right arm of chromosome III, and is part of the clone E5F from the Newlon collection. The segment contains two long open reading frames (ORFs): YCR591 which starts in the adjacent fragment H9G (situated towards CRY1 and the centromere), and continues with 1833 codons in YCR59. The second ORFYCR592 is 1226 codons long and encoded entirely within YCR59. The two ORFs represent 91% of the total length of the segment. Excellent agreement in both location and length is found between the ORFs YCR591 and YCR592 and the transcripts 86 and 87 respectively in the Yoshikawa and Isono (1990) map of chromosome III. The two ORFs correspond to new genes and show no significant similarity with any known genes.

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.

The ERG10 gene specific to S. uvarum, a brewing yeast, has been cloned by complementation of an S. cerevisiae erg10 mutant. S. uvarum contains two different ERG10 genes. One of these is similar to the S. cerevisiae ERG10 gene; they are structurally different, but functionally homologous. The cloned ERG10 gene has been located on chromosome XVI, and we have shown that it is allelic to the previously isolated tsm0115 mutants. Northern blot and sequence analysis indicate that the ERG10 gene is highly expressed, and biochemical and genetic evidence show that it encodes the cytoplasmic acetoacetyl CoA thiolase.

The gltA gene from Escherichia coli, which encodes citrate synthase, has been located on a 3.24 Kb HindIII/EcoRl restriction fragment. This region contains one restriction site for BamHl and two for BglII. Defined restriction fragments from this region were cloned into suitably cleaved replicative form M13mp8 and M13mp9. The recombinants (M13gtlA1 leads to 10) were isolated as single stranded DNA and characterised on the basis of molecular weight and DNA sequence. The single stranded DNA was converted to the double stranded replicative form and used to transform E. coli strain JM103 from which bacteriophage were isolated. Infection of JM103 with different bacteriophage followed by measurement of expressed citrate synthase activity showed that the complete gltA gene must span the BamHl restriction site, that the control region was on the 5'-terminal side of this restriction site and that the coding region for citrate synthase protein commenced on the 3'-terminal side. Analysis of the DNA sequence of this region allowed us to confirm this model, to identify the start sequence for translation of the structural gene and a number of sequences controlling the initiation of transcription. Of special interest is the fact that there must be an extensive leader sequence (305 nucleotides) separating the predicted sites for initiation of transcription and translation.

A hybrid plasmid, pDB2, was constructed by ligating a 3.24 kb EcoRI/HindIII fragment of the Escherichia coli chromosome into pBR322. This was used to transform a gltA mutant which was devoid of citrate synthase activity. The resultant strain expressed very high citrate synthase activity and this enabled a simplified purification of the homogeneous enzyme in high yield. The subunit Mr was estimated as 47000-49000 by SDS gel electrophoresis, which closely resembles the eukaryotic form of the enzyme. Evidence for some conservation of sequence between the two proteins was revealed in the acid cleavage pattern at aspartyl-prolyl residues. In addition to coding for the structural gene for citrate synthase, the 3.24 kb EcoRI/HindIII fragment also retained the genetic structure necessary for control of enzyme synthesis since the expression of enzyme activity in the strain harbouring pDB2 was still subject to glucose repression.

The APH gene of a butirosin-producing Bacillus circulans has been cloned and sequenced; a comparison of the translated protein sequence with those from TN5 and TN903 indicates that they may have a common origin.