Mol Cell Biol, February 1998, p. 926-935, Vol. 18, No. 2
0270-7306/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Cell Biology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208
Received 16 July 1997/Returned for modification 23 October 1997/Accepted 24 November 1997
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ABSTRACT |
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Deletion of TRK1 and TRK2 abolishes
high-affinity K+ uptake in Saccharomyces
cerevisiae, resulting in the inability to grow on typical
synthetic growth medium unless it is supplemented with very high
concentrations of potassium. Selection for spontaneous suppressors that
restored growth of trk1
trk2
cells on
K+-limiting medium led to the isolation of cells with
unusual gain-of-function mutations in the glucose transporter genes
HXT1 and HXT3 and the glucose/galactose
transporter gene GAL2. 86Rb uptake assays
demonstrated that the suppressor mutations conferred increased uptake
of the ion. In addition to K+, the mutant hexose
transporters also conferred permeation of other cations, including
Na+. Because the selection strategy required such gain of
function, mutations that disrupted transporter maturation or
localization to the plasma membrane were avoided. Thus, the importance
of specific sites in glucose transport could be independently assessed
by testing for the ability of the mutant transporter to restore
glucose-dependent growth to cells containing null alleles of all of the
known functional glucose transporter genes. Twelve sites, most of which
are conserved among eukaryotic hexose transporters, were revealed
to be essential for glucose transport. Four of these have previously
been shown to be essential for glucose transport by animal or plant
transporters. Eight represented sites not previously known to be
crucial for glucose uptake. Each suppressor mutant harbored a single
mutation that altered an amino acid(s) within or immediately adjacent
to a putative transmembrane domain of the transporter. Seven of 38 independent suppressor mutations consisted of in-frame insertions or
deletions. The nature of the insertions and deletions revealed a
striking DNA template dependency: each insertion generated a trinucleotide repeat, and each deletion involved the removal of a
repeated nucleotide sequence.
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INTRODUCTION |
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Selective permeation across plasma membranes is achieved through a variety of transport proteins, each of which allows a specific clientele of nutrients and ions to traverse the membrane while excluding others. The selectivity of membrane transport proteins also ensures that gradients of metabolites and ions are appropriately maintained.
The uptake of potassium in Saccharomyces cerevisiae is
normally mediated by two highly related membrane proteins, Trk1
(13, 54) and Trk2 (29, 30) and is believed to be
driven by the large electrical potential (approximately
180 mV) (for
a review, see reference 8) generated by the plasma
membrane H+-ATPase Pma1 (58). Deletion of both
TRK1 and TRK2 increases the concentration of
K+ required to support growth more than 100-fold, resulting
in the inability of these cells to grow on synthetic medium that is not supplemented with high concentrations of potassium (30). The K+ uptake-defective phenotype reflects the inability of
other transport proteins to mediate efficient K+ uptake
under these conditions.
We have exploited the conditional negative phenotype of trk1
trk2
cells to select for extragenic suppressor mutations that restore potassium uptake. Surprisingly, most of the suppressor mutations occurred in genes encoding glucose transporters. Although these hexose transporters have extensive sequence identity (reviewed in
reference 32), they are completely unrelated to the
Trk proteins. Nevertheless, single mutations in hexose transporters can
confer the ability to transport potassium to an extent that satisfies the cellular need for this ion.
In S. cerevisiae, glucose uptake is mediated by transporters encoded by members of the large multigene HXT family (6, 32). This results in a functional redundancy that essentially precludes a straightforward loss-of-function analysis of individual glucose transporters in a wild-type background. In contrast, glucose uptake is virtually absent in cells in which HXT1, HXT2, HXT3, HXT4, HXT6, HXT7, and GAL2 are disrupted, and as a consequence, they are unable to grow on glucose as a sole carbon source (37). The reintroduction of any one of the disrupted HXT genes is sufficient to restore growth of this strain on glucose (37). Thus, the effects of the suppressor mutations at HXT1 and HXT3 on their ability to transport glucose could be independently assessed. Because the suppressors conferred a dominant gain-of-function phenotype (uptake of K+), trivial effects on transporter expression or localization were avoided. Through this novel approach, we were able to identify new sites that play essential roles in glucose transport.
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MATERIALS AND METHODS |
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Strains and media.
The potassium uptake-defective S. cerevisiae strain CY162 (MAT
trk1
trk2
::HIS3 ura3-52 his4-15) (1) was used
to select for spontaneous suppressors that restored growth on
potassium-limiting medium. The dominance of the suppressor mutations
isolated in CY162 was tested by mating suppressors with strain CY152
(MATa trk1
trk2
ura3-52 trp1). Meiotic
offspring containing the suppressor mutations in a MAT
background were obtained from these diploids and used for the
recombination tests described in the text. Standard yeast
extract-peptone-dextrose (YPD), yeast nitrogen base (YNB), sporulation
media, and genetic techniques were as described by Sherman et al.
(59). Low-salt (LS) medium (48) (modified as
described previously [54]) lacks potassium and sodium
and was used to generate potassium-limiting growth conditions. Potassium was added as indicated. Yeast transformation was performed by
electroporation (5) using Gene Pulser (Bio-Rad, Richmond, Calif.).
DNA manipulations. Standard techniques for DNA purification and cloning were as described in Maniatis et al. (38). DNA sequencing analysis was performed by the dideoxy method (55) by using T7 DNA polymerase and synthetic oligonucleotide primers. PCR was performed on the GeneAmp PCR system 9600 (Perkin-Elmer Cetus, Norwalk, Conn.) as described by Innis et al. (21). Oligonucleotide primers were either obtained from the Northwestern University Biotechnology Facility or synthesized with the Oligo Synthesizer 1000 (Beckman, Arlington Heights, Ill.).
Isolation of suppressors of the trk1
trk2
phenotype.
Suppressor mutations that restore potassium uptake to
trk1
trk2
cells were isolated by replica plating
colonies of trk1
trk2
cells (strain CY152
[30]) that had developed on YPD medium (supplemented
with 100 mM KCl) to standard YNB-based yeast growth medium, which
contains approximately 7 mM potassium. Suppressor mutations conferring
the ability to grow on this medium were identified as papillations
within an otherwise nongrowing patch of cells. Independence of
suppressor mutations was guaranteed by picking only one mutant from
such a patch.
Genetic analysis of RPD mutants.
Approximately
60 independent mutants, provisionally designated RPD for
their reduced potassium dependency, were picked for analysis. Dominance
tests were performed by mating each of the suppressor mutants with
strain CY162 to generate diploid cells homozygous for the trk1
trk2
mutations but heterozygous for the RPD
mutations. Growth of the diploid cells on YNB (7 mM K+)
medium indicated dominance of the suppressor mutations. Due to the
dominance of each of the suppressors isolated in this study, recombination tests were performed to determine which of the
suppressors resided at unlinked loci. The absence of
rpd+ spore colonies among at least 10 tetrads
obtained from each RPD × RPD cross was taken as
provisional evidence that the suppressors resided at the same or
closely linked loci.
Cloning and molecular analysis of RPD suppressor
alleles.
RPD5-1 and RPD103-1 suppressor alleles
were cloned by screening libraries of genomic DNA fragments originating
from the dominant mutant strains for their ability to confer growth on
a trk1
trk2
recipient (CY162 [30])
strain on standard YNB (7 mM K+) medium. The wild-type
alleles of RPD5 and RPD103 were obtained by the
method of gap repair (49) and have been published previously (31). Sequence analysis revealed that RPD5 is
identical to HXT1 (36) and RPD103 is
identical to HXT3 (31).
Isolation of HXT3 suppressor alleles.
CY162
(trk1
trk2
) cells harboring a centromeric plasmid,
pCK163, which expresses the wild-type HXT3 gene
(31) were plated onto YNB medium lacking uracil but
supplemented with 100 mM K+ and were allowed to develop
into colonies. These colonies were replica plated onto standard YNB
media (7 mM K+) to select for spontaneous suppressors.
Mutants able to grow on YNB (7 mM K+) were tested for
plasmid dependency of this phenotype. Approximately 120 independent
mutants were obtained, 41 of which showed plasmid dependence. Plasmids
were retrieved from these mutants and were reintroduced into CY162
cells to test for suppression, and the entire sequence of each of the
HXT3 mutant alleles was determined.
86Rb uptake assays. Five-milliliter late-log-phase (optical density at 600 nm, 1 to 2) cultures grown at 30°C in YNB-based medium lacking uracil and supplemented with 100 mM K+ were harvested by centrifugation and washed twice in starvation buffer (50 mM Tris-succinate buffer [pH 5.9]). Potassium starvation was achieved by incubating cells in 10 ml of starvation buffer for 4 to 6 h at 30°C on a rotary shaker. Cells were harvested, washed once with LS buffer (LS medium containing no added K+, uracil, or sugar), and resuspended in 1 ml of LS buffer. The uptake assay conditions were as follows: LS buffer, 1 mM RbCl, 1 mM KCl, ~6 µCi of 86RbCl/ml, 4% glucose, and ~1 × 108 cells/ml. Cells were added to the assay mixture at time zero. Samples (200 µl) were taken from the assay mixture at the indicated time points, diluted into 5 ml of cold (4°C) LS buffer supplemented with 10 mM RbCl, harvested, and washed twice with 5 ml of cold LS buffer supplemented with 10 mM RbCl by filtering through a 0.45-µm-pore-size nitrocellulose filter (Millipore, Malborough, Mass.). 86Rb uptake was assessed by measuring the radioactivity of the filters in a Beckman LS 7000 scintillation counter. The relative amount of 86Rb present in each assay was assessed by measuring the radioactivity of 5 µl of the assay mixture prior to the addition of cells. Only background levels of radioactivity were measured on filters to which (cell-free) buffer containing the 86Rb was applied.
Plasmid construction. Cloning of the mutant and wild-type alleles of HXT3 under the control of the ADH1 promoter was carried out as follows. The open reading frames of mutant HXT3 alleles HXT3-23, HXT3-115, HXT3-122, HXT3-156, and HXT3-164 and of the wild-type HXT3 gene were amplified by PCR using primers 5'-AGT CAA GCT TAG ATC TCA TGA ATT CAA CTC CAG ATT-3' and 5'-AGT CTC TAG AAG ATC TCA GCA CTA CGG TTT AGC GTG A-3'. The DNA products from PCR amplification were subcloned into vector pVT100U (63) at the HindIII and XbaI sites.
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RESULTS |
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Isolation of HXT1-2, HXT3-1, and
GAL2-1.
S. cerevisiae cells from which the two highly
related potassium transporter genes TRK1 and TRK2
have been deleted are unable to grow on standard YNB medium, which
contains only approximately 7 mM potassium. Spontaneous RPD
(reduced potassium dependency) mutants that regained the ability to
grow on YNB medium were isolated in strain CY162 and genetically
analyzed. Each of the mutants was determined to be dominant, and
recombination tests revealed the presence of three linkage groups. For
the two groups comprising most of the suppressors, RPD5 and
RPD103, the ability to grow on YNB or other
low-K+ media was found to be dependent on glucose.
Suppressor alleles RPD5-1 and RPD103-1 were
cloned as described in Materials and Methods, and their sequences were
determined. In both cases, a single large open reading frame that
conferred suppression of the trk1
trk2
phenotype was
found on the smallest subcloned fragment. A comparison of the sequences
of these open reading frames with GenBank sequences revealed that
RPD5-1 and RPD103-1 were alleles of the glucose
(hexose) transporter genes HXT1 (36) (accession
no. L07079) and HXT3 (31) (accession no. L07080), respectively. The suppressor allele of HXT1 was designated
HXT1-2 and that of HXT3 was designated
HXT3-1. The abilities of these mutations to rescue the
growth of trk1
trk2
cells on potassium-limiting medium
are illustrated in Fig. 1.
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trk2
cells by conferring K+ permeability and
increased uptake of the ion.
To determine whether other sugar transporters could be genetically
targeted to yield similar suppressor mutations, the selection was
repeated on potassium-limiting medium containing 2% galactose as the
carbon source by using a trk1
trk2
strain that
expressed the galactose/glucose transporter gene GAL2
(37, 62) from a centromeric plasmid. Among several
independent spontaneous mutants, three showed dependence on the plasmid
for suppression of the trk1
trk2
K+
uptake-defective phenotype. As expected, suppression by these GAL2 mutants was dependent on the presence of galactose and
was not observed on glucose media (data not shown), since expression of
GAL2 is induced by galactose and repressed by glucose
(62). Figure 1 shows the suppression phenotype conferred by
GAL2-1. DNA sequence analysis of GAL2-1 revealed
that the suppressor mutation resulted in a substitution of
phenylalanine for serine at amino acid position 412 within the ninth
hydrophobic region. These results showed that, giving the appropriate
conditions for expression, other hexose transporter genes could give
rise to mutations capable of suppressing the trk1
trk2
phenotype.
Analysis of independent HXT3 suppressor alleles.
The hexose transporter mutants suppress the trk1
trk2
phenotype at least in part by increasing potassium uptake in these cells (see below). The three mutants isolated from three different hexose transporters exhibited an evolving pattern: each mutation resided within a putative TM. In order to reveal which regions of a
glucose transporter can undergo mutations to confer K+
transport and in order to identify amino acids that might be important
for glucose transport, a genetic selection was performed to isolate
additional HXT3 mutants. trk1
trk2
cells
(strain CY162) harboring a centromeric plasmid that expresses the
wild-type HXT3 gene were selected for growth on
K+-limiting medium (7 mM K+). Thirty-eight
independent plasmid-linked suppressor mutants were isolated (see
Materials and Methods). Upon reintroduction into the trk1
trk2
host, each of the mutant plasmids restored growth of the
cells on 7 mM K+ medium. The HXT3
mutants conferred different degrees of suppression. Some alleles, e.g.,
HXT3-16 and HXT3-242, showed only weak
suppression on 7 mM K+ medium, whereas others, e.g.,
HXT3-115 and HXT3-206, were able to confer growth
on media that contained as little as 0.2 mM K+ (data not
shown).
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Potassium uptake mediated by mutant Hxt3 transporters.
Suppression of the trk1
trk2
phenotype by
HXT3 mutations was found to be inhibited by elevated but
nontoxic concentrations of other cations. For example, growth of
trk1
trk2
cells expressing each of the mutant
HXT3 alleles on 7 mM K+ medium is significantly
reduced in the presence of 25 mM Ca2+ (data not shown).
This suggested that the mutant hexose transporters suppress the
K+-deficient phenotype by increasing K+ uptake
and that high concentrations of other cations can block or compete with
the K+ transport.
trk2
cells constitutively expressing either HXT3 or HXT3-23 from the
ADH1 promoter were assayed for uptake of
86Rb+. As shown in Fig.
3, whereas trk1
trk2
cells expressing the wild-type transporter exhibit essentially the same
amount of 86Rb+ uptake as cells harboring the
vector alone, cells expressing the Hxt3-23 transporter exhibited a
significant increase in 86Rb+ uptake. The rate
of Rb+ uptake was calculated based on time points within
the nearly linear portion of the uptake curve (between 10 and 30 min).
In cells harboring the vector or expressing wild-type Hxt3 transporter, Rb+ uptake occurred at a rate of 3.1 ± 0.2 nmol/min/mg (n = 4), whereas the rate in cells
expressing the Hxt3-23 transporter was 6.0 ± 0.1 nmol/min/mg
(n = 3). Furthermore, while
86Rb+ uptake began to plateau in cells
harboring the vector or the wild-type Hxt3 transporter, cells
expressing Hxt3-23 showed continuous accumulation of the ion during the
assay period. Thus, suppression of the trk1
trk2
phenotype by the mutant glucose transporters is correlated with
increased K+ (Rb+) uptake.
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trk2
cells on medium containing low
concentrations of potassium; i.e., stronger alleles conferred both
stronger growth on K+-limiting media and greater
Na+ hypersensitivity. These results strongly suggest that
although glucose transporters are normally highly selective, single
mutations can convert them into nonselective cation transporters.
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The effects of the suppressor mutations on glucose transport.
To investigate the effects of the suppressor mutations on the normal
function of Hxt3, we assessed the abilities of the mutant transporters
to take up glucose by testing their abilities to confer growth of a
glucose transport-deficient strain on medium containing glucose as the
sole carbon source (snf3
hxt1
hxt2
hxt3
hxt4
hxt6
hxt7
gal2; strain HY133 [37]).
Expression of wild-type HXT1 or HXT3 and of some
of the mutant HXT3 alleles was sufficient to restore growth
of these cells on glucose. However, HXT1-2 and most of the
HXT3 mutants appeared to be strongly impaired for glucose
transport. They failed to confer growth on the snf3
hxt1
hxt2
hxt3
hxt4
hxt6
hxt7
gal2 recipient (HY133) on 2% glucose (Fig. 5 and Table 1).
Although unregulated glucose influx can lead to glucose poisoning and
cell death (12, 19), the inability of a mutant transporter
to restore growth of HY133 on glucose is due to a lack of glucose
transport and not to uncontrolled glucose influx, since these mutants
do not confer glucose sensitivity in wild-type or trk1
trk2
cells (Fig. 1 and 6 and data
not shown). Because the mutant transporters are capable of mediating
potassium transport, the severe impairment in glucose transport caused
by the suppressor mutations suggests that the mutated residues are essential for glucose transport per se. The inability of some of the
mutants to transport glucose also suggested that suppression of the
trk1
trk2
phenotype was not due to an indirect effect resulting from increased sugar uptake and metabolism.
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Thr mutation in TM10 (HXT3-210) retains
glucose transport, a substitution of a valine at the same position
(HXT3-122) appears to abolish this activity.
Each of the three mutants that harbor an alteration at TM12, including
an insertion and a deletion, retain glucose transport activity (Table 1
and Fig. 2), indicating that this region is not critical for glucose
transport. Rather, since the mutants gained the ability to transport
K+, this region may play an important role in the overall
integrity of the transporter. Each of the remaining five mutants that
exhibit glucose transport activity is located in a region shown to be responsible for substrate recognition or translocation by other sugar
transporters: TM10 is critical for galactose recognition by Gal2
(25); the first extracellular loop is important for substrate specificity by Chlorella hexose/H+
symporters (68); and TM7 has been suggested to form part of the glucose channel and to be involved in substrate translocation (71). The importance of these regions in glucose transport
is supported by the isolation of suppressor mutations that abolish glucose transport in these regions (Table 1). Asp79
Tyr
(loop 1), Gly336
Ser (TM7), and Ala438
Val
and Ala442
Val (TM10) result in severe impairment of
glucose transport, indicating that these residues are critical for
glucose binding or translocation. Mutations in these regions that
retain glucose transport activity may expand the glucose binding and
translocation unit of the transporter to allow ion permeation without
prohibiting glucose transport.
Potassium transport via mutant Hxt3 transporters is not coupled to
glucose transport.
As indicated above, suppression of the
trk1
trk2
phenotype by mutations in HXT1
and HXT3 was found to be dependent on glucose. Although the
mutant HXT3 alleles are able to restore growth of trk1
trk2
cells on medium containing 7 mM potassium in
the presence of 2% glucose, no suppression was observed when glycerol
and ethanol were supplied as the carbon source (Fig. 6 and data not
shown). Suppression conferred by HXT1-2 showed a similar
dependency on glucose (data not shown). This glucose dependency is
likely due to the lack of expression of HXT1 and
HXT3 in the absence of glucose, since the expression of
these two genes is greatly induced by glucose (50). However,
glucose-dependent suppression of the trk1
trk2
phenotype could also reflect the glucose dependency of K+
transport mediated by the mutant transporters.
trk2
phenotype in the absence of glucose. In
addition, no significant differences were observed in the degrees of
suppression of the trk1
trk2
phenotype on 2% glucose
compared to those on glycerol and ethanol (Fig. 6). Therefore,
potassium permeation through the mutant glucose transporters is not
obligatorily coupled to the binding or transport of glucose.
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DISCUSSION |
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We have identified mutations in the hexose transporter genes
HXT1, HXT3, and GAL2 that confer
growth on K+ transport-defective cells (trk1
trk2
) on K+-limiting media. Although transporters
of other substrates from both yeast and bacteria have been implicated
in K+ uptake (11, 16, 23, 70), these hexose
transporters are normally highly selective (reviewed in reference
6). Our results reveal that hexose transporters can
be converted into general cation transporters by single mutations at
residues that lie within or immediately adjacent to putative
membrane-spanning domains. These mutant proteins appear to be capable
of mediating transport of K+, Na+, and possibly
Ca2+.
Although we have not ruled out the possibility that the suppressor mutations in the hexose transporters confer increased K+ uptake through an indirect mechanism, the data suggest that this is very unlikely. First, suppressor mutations were obtained in at least three different transporters. An indirect role would require that each transporter can be made capable of activating a cryptic ion transporter. Second, the observation that dominant gain-of-function mutations could be obtained at a wide variety of positions within Hxt3 also argues against an indirect effect, since each would have to activate the putative ion transporter. Third, the ability to confer K+ uptake does not require an alteration of glucose transport. Some of the suppressor mutations in HXT3 abolished glucose uptake, while others had no significant effect. Finally, the ion transport activity that results from the suppressor mutations is nonselective. An indirect role resulting in increased uptake for K+, Na+, and Ca2+ would require either the simultaneous activation of multiple transporters or the existence of a novel cation transporter in S. cerevisiae. Therefore, we strongly favor the hypothesis that the suppressor mutations at HXT1, HXT3, and GAL2 confer the ability of these transporters to accommodate the nonselective passage of cations.
The mutant sugar transporters do not appear to be converted into obligate cation/glucose symporters. Although some members of the sugar transporter superfamily are ion/sugar symporters (for reviews, see references 3 and 27), glucose transport in S. cerevisiae is apparently not coupled with protons or other cations (for a review, see reference 6). In addition, K+ transport mediated by the mutant sugar transporters does not require the presence of glucose. Thus, the conformational changes that presumably occur during glucose translocation are not necessarily required for potassium transport by the mutant proteins.
Among 18 putative hexose transporter genes identified in S. cerevisiae, 7, HXT1 through HXT4,
HXT6, HXT7, and GAL2, have thus far
been shown to be capable of mediating glucose transport (33, 36). The remaining HXT genes might encode hexose
transporters that are not expressed under laboratory conditions, or
they might encode transporters of other solutes. Suppressor mutations
that allow K+ uptake were mapped only to the
HXT1 and HXT3 loci in the initial selection. The
absence of analogous mutations in the other functional glucose
transporter genes is likely due to the fact that they are not expressed
under the selection conditions. HXT2, HXT4, HXT6, HXT7, and GAL2 are each
repressed by the concentrations of glucose (2%) contained in the
selection medium (37, 50, 52, 62, 67). In fact, we have
isolated a suppressor allele of HXT6 that is capable of
suppressing the trk1
trk2
phenotype on medium
containing glycerol and ethanol but not on medium containing 2%
glucose (unpublished results). Similarly, when the selection was
carried out on galactose, cells with suppressor mutations in the
galactose transporter gene GAL2 were isolated. Mutations in
other transporters, including amino acid permeases (70) and an inositol transporter (manuscript in preparation), can also confer
suppression of the trk1
trk2
phenotype by restoring
K+ uptake. Therefore, the ability to accommodate the
transport of K+ upon simple mutation may be a general
property of nutrient transporters. Nevertheless, the observation that
only a few transporters are represented among many independent
suppressor mutations analyzed to date argues that mutationally induced
uptake of K+ is not likely to be an intrinsic property of
all polytopic membrane proteins in S. cerevisiae.
In a selection designed to identify which regions of Hxt3 could be altered to confer K+ transport, mutations were found that altered seven different TMs and the first extracellular loop. Whether similar mutations can occur in the remaining five TMs is unknown. Interestingly, the two suppressor mutations obtained in Hxt1 and Gal2 map to TMs different from those identified in Hxt3. This may reflect the fact that the mutational analysis of HXT3 was not exhaustive.
Among the 25 distinct mutations identified in Hxt3, 17 severely impair glucose transport. The fact that these suppressor mutants exhibit a dominant gain-of-function phenotype (K+ uptake) suggests that the mutations that abolish glucose transport identify sites that are critical for glucose transport per se and not for protein expression or localization. In this regard the structure and function relationships revealed by the effects of the suppressor mutations on glucose transport confirm and significantly extend those described by others. For example, of the many sites conserved among mammalian glucose transporters that have been analyzed by site-directed mutagenesis, only eight have been determined to be critical for glucose transport (14, 22, 26, 44-46, 56, 60, 64). Of these sites, five are conserved in the S. cerevisiae hexose transporter gene family and three are represented among our collection of suppressors (Gln161 and Tyr343 in Hxt3 and Trp473 in Hxt1). In agreement with the mammalian data, mutations at these three sites abolished glucose uptake. Similarly, the site in the Hup family of Chlorella hexose transporters analogous to Asp79 in Hxt3 is conserved and has been shown to be essential for hexose transport (9). The abolition of glucose uptake by point mutations at Gly122, Cys123, Gly175, Ala182, Val253, Gly336, Ala438, and Ala442 and by a single-codon deletion mutation (Phe341) reveals eight new sites that are critical for glucose transport. Four of these, Gly122, Gly175, Gly336, and Phe341, are conserved in both the mammalian and the fungal transporters.
The profile of HXT3 mutations was very unusual. Seven of 38 independent mutations contained an insertion or deletion of multiple base pairs. Furthermore, these mutations appeared to be template dependent: six were insertions or deletions of trinucleotide repeats, and one was a deletion of 12 nucleotides that are bounded on either side by a 6-nucleotide repeated sequence. Although much smaller in scale, the trinucleotide insertions are reminiscent of the genomic expansions that occur in the triplet repeat sequences observed in genes associated with hereditary diseases (66). Likewise, a large number of insertions or deletions of partially repeated multiple-base pair sequences have been reported in somatic mutations in the p53 (7, 15, 18, 24, 28) and adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) (10, 42, 43, 47, 51) genes isolated from different human tumors and in germ line mutations that cause diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa (4), junctional epidermolysis bullosa (40), and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (65).
The frequency of spontaneous multinucleotide insertion or deletion events is significantly higher than that reported by others. No insertions and only seven deletions were obtained among 322 spontaneous loss-of-function alleles analyzed in the S. cerevisiae tRNA suppressor gene SUP4-o (34), suggesting that in wild-type cells, under normal growth conditions, the ratio of spontaneous multinucleotide insertions or deletions to single-nucleotide substitutions is about 2%. In another study, no insertions or deletions were obtained in a total of 68 independent spontaneous mutants analyzed at three independent loci (61). In addition, since our selection required the expression of a functional transporter, insertions or deletions that cause frameshifts would not have been obtained. Thus, the ratio of insertions or deletions to single-base pair substitutions may be significantly underrepresented in our collection of mutants.
It is possible that the selection bias for the unique gain-of-function
mutations has revealed a frequency of insertions and deletions that has
simply not been detected by other mutant hunts. Alternatively, the
potassium-limiting conditions under which the selection was performed
might be responsible for an increased frequency of such mutations.
After replica plating to potassium-limiting media, trk1
trk2
cells are able to go through several cell divisions due to
the pool of stored K+. However, during this period of
growth the internal K+ concentration decreases
significantly. Nucleotide insertions and deletions might occur more
frequently under these conditions if DNA replication or repair
mechanisms require higher K+ concentrations for proper
function. Although potassium is an essential ion (35, 39,
53) and high doses in mammalian-cell culture can induce mutations
(20, 57), little is known about the effect of potassium
deficiency on DNA replication or repair. Tishkoff et al. recently
reported a high frequency of insertions or deletions of repeated
sequences (73% at one locus and 79% at another locus) in cells with
mutations affecting DNA repair (rad27
) (61).
This raises the possibility that suboptimal concentrations of
intracellular potassium might inhibit Rad27-mediated DNA repair activity. If potassium insufficiency is indeed the cause of the insertion and deletion mutants that arose from the suppressor selection, this would reveal a new physiological role for
K+ in the maintenance of genomic integrity.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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We thank L. Bisson, M. Carlson, and R. Schekman for gifts of strains and plasmids, B. Kennedy and S. Grove for assistance with the analysis of HXT3-1, and J. Ramos and R. Alijo for their help in developing conditions for the Rb+ uptake assays.
This work has been supported by a grant (MCB-9406577) from the National Science Foundation.
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FOOTNOTES |
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* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Cell Biology, Northwestern University, 2153 Sheridan Rd., Evanston, IL 60208. Phone: (847) 491-5452. Fax: (847) 467-1422. E-mail: r-gaber{at}nwu.edu.
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