Molecular and Cellular Biology, September 2001, p. 5710-5722, Vol. 21, No. 17
0270-7306/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/MCB.21.17.5710-5722.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
andDepartment of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 152601; Department of Biological Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 152132; and SFB Biomembrane Research Center, Institut für Biochemie, TU Graz, A8010 Graz, Austria3
Received 31 January 2001/Returned for modification 14 March 2001/Accepted 5 June 2001
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ABSTRACT |
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Mutations in the Saccharomyces cerevisiae SNF1 gene
affect a number of cellular processes, including the expression of
genes involved in carbon source utilization and phospholipid
biosynthesis. To identify targets of the Snf1 kinase that modulate
expression of INO1, a gene required for an early,
rate-limiting step in phospholipid biosynthesis, we performed a genetic
selection for suppressors of the inositol auxotrophy of
snf1
strains. We identified mutations in
ACC1 and FAS1, two genes important for
fatty acid biosynthesis in yeast; ACC1 encodes acetyl
coenzyme A carboxylase (Acc1), and FAS1 encodes the
subunit of fatty acid synthase. Acc1 was shown previously to be
phosphorylated and inactivated by Snf1. Here we show that
snf1
strains with increased Acc1 activity exhibit decreased INO1 transcription. Strains carrying the
ACC1 suppressor mutation have reduced Acc1 activity in
vitro and in vivo, as revealed by enzymatic assays and increased
sensitivity to the Acc1-specific inhibitor soraphen A. Moreover, a
reduction in Acc1 activity, caused by addition of soraphen A, provision
of exogenous fatty acid, or conditional expression of
ACC1, suppresses the inositol auxotrophy of
snf1
strains. Together, these findings indicate that
the inositol auxotrophy of snf1
strains arises in
part from elevated Acc1 activity and that a reduction in this activity
restores INO1 expression in these strains. These results
reveal a Snf1-dependent connection between fatty acid production and
phospholipid biosynthesis, identify Acc1 as a Snf1 target important for
INO1 transcription, and suggest models in which
metabolites that are generated or utilized during fatty acid
biosynthesis can significantly influence gene expression in yeast.
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INTRODUCTION |
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Cellular responses to environmental
signals are often mediated by protein kinases and phosphatases. In
Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the Snf1 protein kinase plays a
central role in the response to glucose availability. Together with
Snf4 and one of three
subunits, Snf1 activates the transcription of
glucose-repressed genes under conditions of glucose depletion via the
glucose response signal transduction pathway (7, 63). The
activity of the Snf1 kinase is itself regulated by the Glc7 phosphatase
and its regulatory subunit, Reg1 (36, 48, 61, 77). Snf1
also regulates other events in yeast, including sporulation, glycogen
accumulation, peroxisome proliferation, and phospholipid synthesis
(8, 67, 69, 75). The mammalian homologue of Snf1, the
AMP-activated protein kinase, is activated by environmental conditions
that diminish the energy supplies of a cell and raise the AMP-to-ATP ratio (27). Therefore, both the AMP-activated protein
kinase and Snf1 have been classified as environmental sensors for
eukaryotic cells (26-28). The yeast and mammalian
proteins have at least one common substrate, since both can directly
phosphorylate and inactivate acetyl coenzyme A (acetyl-CoA)
carboxylase (Acc1), the enzyme that catalyzes the
rate-limiting step in fatty acid biosynthesis (51, 81).
Snf1 is thought to regulate gene expression by at least two mechanisms. First, Snf1 can directly phosphorylate and alter the activities of gene-specific transcriptional activators and repressors (7). In response to low glucose levels, Snf1 phosphorylates the Mig1 transcriptional repressor, a protein that binds specifically to the promoters of several glucose-repressed genes (70, 76). This event correlates with the translocation of Mig1 from the nucleus to the cytoplasm (16). Second, several observations suggest that Snf1 directly influences the activity of the RNA polymerase II holoenzyme. Genetic selections for extragenic suppressors of a snf1 mutation identified six SSN (suppressors of snf1) genes that encode components of the Srb-mediator complex (9, 43, 72). The Srb-mediator complex is associated with the carboxy-terminal repeat domain (CTD) of RNA polymerase II and is involved in the response to transcriptional activators and repressors (6). More recently, Snf1 has been shown to interact physically with some members of the Srb-mediator complex (42). In addition, mutations in SNF1 and mutations that truncate the CTD cause similar mutant phenotypes, including inositol auxotrophy and defects in galactose-regulated transcription (32, 38, 55, 62).
The inositol auxotrophy of RNA polymerase CTD mutants correlates with a failure to express the INO1 gene (62). Certain mutants defective in the TATA binding protein (TBP), which is encoded by the SPT15 gene, or in histone acetylation are also impaired in INO1 transcription (3, 21, 59). The INO1 gene encodes inositol 1-phosphate synthase, the enzyme that catalyzes the conversion of glucose 6-phosphate to inositol 1-phosphate (17). In yeast, this reaction is rate limiting for the synthesis of inositol-containing phospholipids when inositol is absent from the growth medium. However, when inositol is present, transcription of the INO1 gene is repressed more than 10-fold by a mechanism that requires the negative regulatory protein Opi1 (31). Expression of the INO1 gene requires the Ino2 and Ino4 transcriptional activators (2, 31, 33, 54) that bind to a repeated element, UASINO, found in the promoters of INO1 and other genes subject to regulation by inositol (10, 11, 23, 30).
Previous studies involving the isolation of suppressors of the inositol
auxotrophy conferred by specific ino4 and spt15
alleles resulted in the identification of recessive reg1
mutations and a dominant allele of SNF4, establishing a
connection between INO1 expression and members of the
glucose response pathway (57, 67). To identify potential
targets of Snf1 that are important for INO1 transcription,
we performed a genetic selection for mutations that suppress the
inositol auxotrophy of snf1
strains. This work uncovered
a connection between genes involved in fatty acid synthesis, notably
ACC1 and FAS1, and the regulation of
INO1 transcription by Snf1.
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MATERIALS AND METHODS |
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Genetic methods and media.
Media used for the experiment
depicted in Fig. 1 were essentially as described by Shirra and Arndt
(67). All other experiments were performed in defined
synthetic media containing (+I) or lacking (
I) 75 µM inositol,
prepared as described previously (24). In some cases 10 µM inositol was used (+I10). Where noted, media also contained 0.5 mM
palmitoleic acid (C16:1) dispersed in 1% Brij 58 (final
concentrations). Thus, the synthetic media used for these studies
contained various combinations of inositol (I) and palmitoleic acid
(C16:1) and are abbreviated as follows: (i)
I
C16:1, (ii) +I
C16:1, (iii)
I +C16:1, (iv) +I +C16:1, (v) +I10
C16:1, and (vi)
+I10 +C16:1. Soraphen A, a gift of A. Freund (BASF,
Ludwigshafen, Germany), was added to the media from a 10-mg/ml stock
solution in methanol. The FY, KY, and PY strains, described in Table
1, are congenic with FY2, a derivative of
S288C (80).
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Isolation of extragenic suppressors of
snf1
10.
Five parental strains,
PY129 to PY133, of both mating types and with complementing
auxotrophies, were used for the selection of
snf1
10 suppressors. For each strain, 28 individual colonies were patched to yeast extract-peptone-dextrose
(YPD) solid medium and replica plated to medium lacking
inositol. Patches were mutagenized with UV radiation of 0 to 1,500 µJoules/cm2 in a Stratalinker (Stratagene). No
more than one Ino+ colony was purified from each
patch to ensure that all suppressor candidates were independently
derived. Following purification, 97 lno+
suppressor strains were obtained. These strains were mated to snf1
10 parental strains of the opposite mating
type to determine if the suppressor mutations were dominant or
recessive. Of the 97 suppressor strains, 79 were found to harbor
dominant mutations that suppressed the snf1
10
inositol auxotrophy. Genetic crosses followed by tetrad analysis showed
that the dominant mutations in three of these strains were tightly
linked, and tetrad analysis of crosses with
snf1
10 parental strains showed that the
suppressor mutations were in a single gene (data not shown). One of
these dominant suppressor strains, PY794, was selected for further
study (see below). The remaining 18 suppressor strains contained
recessive or partially recessive mutations. For 16 of these strains,
the Ino+ phenotype segregated 2:2 in backcrosses
with snf1
10 parental strains, indicating that
the suppressor mutations affected a single gene. Complementation
analysis was complicated by the partially recessive
Ino+ phenotype of many of these strains; however,
three strains were found to contain clearly noncomplementing suppressor
mutations: PY731, PY802, and PY803.
Cloning of suppressor genes.
Because previous work had shown
that a mutation in OPI1 can suppress the inositol auxotrophy
of a snf1
10 strain (67), we tested whether a plasmid containing wild-type OPI1, pPS31
(67), would complement the suppressor mutations in PY731,
PY802, or PY803. pPS31 fully reversed the Ino+
phenotype of PY802, suggesting that PY802 contains a mutation in
OPI1. This assignment was confirmed by linkage analysis of a
cross between PY802 and an
opi1
::HIS3 strain. The
Ino+ phenotype of PY731 was partially reversed by
pPS31, and this strain was not selected for further study. pPS31 did
not alter the Ino+ phenotype of PY803.
10. Using a plasmid-based yeast genomic
library (67), constructed with the pRS316 vector
(68), we cloned the PY803 suppressor gene by
complementation of the caffeine and inositol phenotypes. Three
complementing plasmids, which contained overlapping sequences from
chromosome XI, were isolated. The only open reading frame included on
all plasmids was the FAS1 gene, which encodes one of two
subunits of fatty acid synthase. Linkage of the PY803 suppressor
mutation to FAS1 was confirmed by a cross between PY803 and
a strain which contained URA3 integrated at the
FAS1 locus.
To identify the dominant suppressor in PY794, a plasmid library of
PY794 genomic DNA was constructed in pRS316 (68)
using a protocol provided by Craig Thompson (74). Upon
transformation into a snf1
10 strain, PY133,
one plasmid was isolated that conferred an
Ino+ phenotype to the strain. pPS65 contains
yeast genomic sequences from chromosome XIV, 666087 to 654165 (numbering is per the Saccharomyces Genome Database
[http://genome-www.stanford.edu/Saccharomyces]), which
includes the gene encoding acetyl-CoA carboxylase, ACC1. A plasmid subclone of pPS65, containing ACC1 sequences
as the only complete open reading frame, also suppressed the
Ino
phenotype of PY133 (data not shown). In
addition, the presence of a mutation in ACC1 was supported
by results of biochemical assays of Acc1 activity (see Results) and by
linkage of the PY794 suppressor mutation to the chromosomal
ACC1 locus (data not shown).
Construction of a conditional ACC1 allele. A conditional allele of ACC1 under the control of the doxycycline-regulatable tetO7 promoter (22) was constructed as follows. A 2,731-bp integration cassette carrying the tetO7-CYC1 promoter and the kanMX4 marker was generated by PCR using a plasmid template, which carries the tetO7-CYC1 hybrid promoter linked to a kanMX4 marker (J. Hegemann et al., unpublished data). The hybrid primers contained 20 nucleotides homologous to the loxP-kanMX4-loxP-tetO7 region of the template. In addition, the hybrid primers contained 50 nucleotide extensions homologous either to the region 50 bp upstream of the start codon or to the first 50 bp of the coding region of the ACC1 gene. The PCR fragment was transformed into strain YUG37 harboring the tetracycline-controlled transactivator gene (tTA) integrated into the LEU2 locus (Hegemann et al., unpublished data). Transformants were selected based on the kanamycin resistance gene, kanMX, on YPD medium containing 200 µg of G418 (Calbiochem)/ml. Correct integration of the tetO7 promoter was verified by colony PCR. ACC1 expression was reduced by addition of 2 to 100 µg of doxycycline/ml.
Northern hybridization analysis. Cells were grown at 30°C to a density of 1 × 107 to 2 × 107 cells/ml in the appropriate media and harvested or induced as described in the figure legends (see also Results). Isolation of RNA and Northern analyses were performed as described previously (3). Hybridization probes for INO1, TUB2, SPT15, and ACC1 were prepared from pJH310 (31), pYST138 (71), pDE32-1 (18), and YEp352-ACC1 (66), respectively, using a nick translation kit (Roche) or PCR.
Phospholipid analysis.
Wild-type and
snf1
10 cells grown to mid-logarithmic phase in
synthetic medium containing 1% Brij 58 and 75 µM inositol were harvested and washed with sterile water. Each strain was used to
inoculate four cultures at an optical density at 600 nm
(OD600) of
0.5 in the following media:
I
C16:1, +I
C16:1,
I +C16:1, and +I +C16:1. The strains were grown
for 1 h at 30°C, at which time 10 µCi of
[32P]H3PO4/ml
was added to the medium. Following 20 min of labeling, the cells were
harvested, suspended in 5% trichloroacetic acid, and placed on
ice for 30 min. Lipids were extracted (4), individual phospholipid species were resolved by two-dimensional paper
chromatography (73), and phospholipids were quantified by
PhosphorImager analysis.
-galactosidase assays.
Strains were transformed to uracil
prototrophy with a plasmid (pJH359) bearing an
INO1-CYC1-lacZ fusion (47). Wild-type and
snf1
10 cells grown to mid-logarithmic phase in
synthetic medium containing 1% Brij 58 and 75 µM inositol were
harvested and washed with sterile water. Each strain was used to
inoculate two cultures at an OD600 of
0.2 in
I
C16:1 medium and
I +C16:1 medium. At various times, aliquots of
the cultures were removed and assayed for
-galactosidase activity
using the Pierce Chemical Company yeast
-galactosidase assay kit.
Units of
-galactosidase activity were calculated with the formula
A420 × 1,000/(min × ml × OD600).
Acc1 activity determination.
Due to the significant
background signal in the standard Acc1 activity assay
(44), the enzyme was purified from cytosolic fractions by
means of biotin-avidin affinity chromatography as follows. Cells
were harvested at 4,000 × g for 10 min, washed with
0.1 M K-PO4 buffer (pH 6.5), mixed with breaking
buffer (50 mM Tris-HCl, 100 mM NaF, 1 mM EDTA, 10 mM
-mercaptoethanol, 0.25 M sucrose, 1 mM phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride
[pH 7.5]) and glass beads (0.30-mm diameter) in a ratio of 1:1:1
(wt/vol/wt) and disrupted by four 1-min bursts in a
Braun-Melsungen homogenizer under CO2 cooling.
Afterwards, the homogenate was centrifuged at 20,000 × g for 20 min. The supernatant (equal amounts of total
protein for the various preparations) was loaded onto a preconditioned avidin column (200 µl; Pierce, Inc.), and unbound protein was eluted
with 10 ml of phosphate-buffered saline buffer (0.1 M
K-PO4 [pH 7.2], 0.15 M NaCl). Acc1 and other
biotin enzymes (e.g., pyruvate carboxylase) were eluted with 4 ml of
phosphate-buffered saline buffer containing 2 mM biotin (Pierce).
All steps were carried out at 4°C. Activity of enriched acetyl-CoA
carboxylase was determined using a photometric assay in a coupled
enzymatic reaction as described previously (49)
immediately after chromatography. All enzyme measurements were carried
out at 24°C.
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RESULTS |
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Isolation of suppressors of the inositol auxotrophy of
snf1
10 strains.
Previously,
in two independent studies, we uncovered a role for members of the
glucose response pathway and the Snf1-Snf4 kinase complex in the
regulation of INO1 transcription (57, 67).
However, no substrate was identified for the kinase. The study by
Shirra and Arndt (67) suggested that the Opi1 regulatory factor might be a target. However, mutant analyses showed that Opi1
could not be the only target relevant to inositol regulation (67). To further analyze the connection between the Snf1
kinase and INO1 transcription, we performed a genetic
selection to identify extragenic suppressors of the inositol auxotrophy
of snf1
10 mutant strains (see Materials and
Methods for details). We reasoned that we might isolate mutations in
other negative regulators of INO1 transcription, which might
be direct targets of the kinase. Standard cloning procedures, followed
by linkage tests, indicated that we isolated recessive suppressor
mutations in the OPI1 and FAS1 genes and a
dominant mutation in the ACC1gene.
suppressors was expected, as opi1
mutations had previously been shown to suppress the inositol auxotrophy
of snf1
strains (67). The identification of
mutations in FAS1 and ACC1 was more surprising. FAS1 encodes the
subunit of the heteromeric fatty acid
synthase enzyme, and ACC1 encodes acetyl-CoA carboxylase
(79). Both enzymes are involved in the synthesis of
long-chain fatty acids from acetyl-CoA. Importantly, Acc1, in both
yeast and mammals, is known to be a direct target of the Snf1 kinase,
and phosphorylation by Snf1 inactivates purified Acc1 in vitro
(26, 27, 51, 81).
The snf1
suppressors restore INO1
transcription.
To determine whether the suppressor mutations act
at the level of INO1 transcription, Northern analysis on the
parental and double-mutant strains was performed (Fig.
1). Compared to a wild-type strain, the
snf1
10 strain showed a 3.5-fold-lower level of
INO1 transcription under the derepressing conditions used
here (Fig. 1, compare lanes 2 and 4). The level of INO1
mRNA in the wild-type strain is probably underestimated, because
wild-type strains reach growth saturation during the induction and
INO1 is repressed in stationary phase (37). All
three suppressor mutations, ACC1-794, opi1-802,
and fas1-803, conferred a high level of INO1
transcription in strains containing the snf1
mutation
(Fig. 1, lanes 6, 8, and 10). As expected from previous studies on
OPI1, the opi1-802 strain transcribed
INO1 even in the presence of high levels of inositol (Fig.
1, lane 7). Therefore, the suppressor mutations restore the ability of
snf1
10 strains to grow on medium lacking inositol by increasing INO1 transcription.
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Suppression by ACC1-794 is specific to mutations in
SNF1 and SNF4.
To determine if
the suppression of snf1
10 by a mutation in
ACC1 is specific to the Snf1 kinase pathway, we investigated
whether ACC1-794 could also suppress the inositol
auxotrophy caused by other mutations. We chose to examine two mutations
in the SPT15 gene, which encodes the general transcription
factor TBP. The inositol auxotrophy conferred by these mutations,
spt15-328 and spt15-341, was previously shown to
be suppressed by a dominant mutation in SNF4,
SNF4-204, which enhances the physical interaction between
Snf1 and Snf4 (67). We also examined null mutations that
remove the transcriptional activators of INO1, Ino2, and Ino4 (2, 31, 33, 54). We transformed the strains with a
plasmid containing the dominant ACC1 suppressor mutation. As a control, we also tested suppression by the dominant mutation, SNF4-204. Table 2 shows that
ACC1-794 only suppressed mutations in the Snf1-Snf4 pathway,
suggesting that the suppression mechanism is specific to Snf1 and
requires additional signals supplied by TBP and the Ino2 and Ino4
transcription factors. Furthermore, the strong suppression of the TBP
mutants by SNF4-204 suggests an additional role for the Snf1
kinase in INO1 transcription that is independent of its
function as an inhibitor of Acc1.
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Suppression of the snf1
Ino
phenotype by ACC1 mutations is allele specific.
Mutants with defects in Acc1 have been isolated in genetic screens
involving diverse phenotypes. While the ACC1-794 allele reported here was isolated as a suppressor of the
Ino
phenotype of a snf1
mutant,
the recessive, cold-sensitive allele, acc1cs, was identified in a screen for
mutations that are synthetically lethal with the hyperrecombination
mutant, hpr1 (64). In addition, a
temperature-sensitive allele of ACC1, mtr7, was
isolated as a mutation affecting mRNA transport out of the nucleus
(66), and acc1-2150 is a conditional fatty acid
auxotroph (50).
suppression by
acc1 alleles, double mutants were constructed by standard
genetic crosses. As shown in Fig. 2, the
cold-sensitive, recessive acc1cs allele,
like the dominant ACC1-794 allele, suppressed the inositol auxotrophy of snf1
mutants. However, the
acc1-2150 (Fig. 2) and mtr7 alleles (data not
shown) did not suppress the snf1
phenotype. Therefore,
acc1 mutations suppress the inositol auxotrophy of snf1
mutants in an allele-specific fashion.
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Suppression of the inositol auxotrophy of the
snf1
10 mutant results from
inactivation of acetyl-CoA carboxylase.
The observation that a
recessive, loss-of-function mutation such as
acc1cs could suppress the
snf1
10 mutation suggested that the mechanism of suppression might involve inactivation of acetyl-CoA carboxylase activity, although the ACC1-794 suppression phenotype is
dominant. To determine whether inactivation of Acc1 correlates with
suppression of the inositol auxotrophy of the snf1
mutant, we employed soraphen A, a potent inhibitor of Acc1 activity
(78). Cells with elevated Acc1 activity are more resistant
to this compound than wild-type cells, while cells with lowered Acc1
activity are more sensitive (64, 65). Relative to a
wild-type strain, a snf1
strain was significantly more
resistant to soraphen A, suggesting an increase in Acc1 activity in the
mutant strain (Fig. 3A). The
ACC1-794 strain was even more sensitive to soraphen A than
the wild type, indicating reduced Acc1 activity, while growth of the
fas1-803 mutant was comparable to that of the wild type. The
ACC1-794 snf1
double-mutant strain exhibited a
sensitivity to soraphen A that was intermediate to those of strains
containing either single mutation. The fas1-803
snf1
10 strain, on the other hand, exhibited a
sensitivity to the drug that was comparable to that of the
snf1
parent.
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phenotype of snf1
strains
(Fig. 3B). Since soraphen A is highly specific for Acc1, these findings
suggest that a reduction in Acc1 activity suppresses the inositol
auxotrophy of snf1
strains. On plates lacking
inositol, the presence of the fas1 mutation presumably
results in reduced production of fatty acids, rendering the cells
unable to grow if the flux through the fatty acid synthesis pathway is
further reduced by inhibiting Acc1 (Fig. 3B).
To further test the correlation between acetyl-CoA carboxylase activity
and snf1
suppression, a conditional allele of
ACC1 was constructed by replacing the endogenous promoter
with the regulatable tetO7 promoter (see Materials and
Methods) (22). In this construct, ACC1
expression levels can be modulated by the addition of doxycycline,
which interacts with the expression-activation system and results in
repression. Acc1 is an essential enzyme, and addition of 50 µg of
doxycycline/ml to YPD media completely abolished growth of haploid
strains harboring the tetO7-ACC1 allele (data not shown). By
addition of limiting amounts of doxycycline (2 µg/ml), the
Ino
phenotype conferred by snf1
was suppressed on plates lacking inositol (Fig. 3C). Taken together,
these in vivo results strongly suggest that the inositol auxotrophy of
snf1
strains arises, in part, from an elevation in Acc1
enzyme activity and that a reduction in Acc1 activity, caused by
mutation, drug inactivation, or conditional expression, suppresses this phenotype.
Supplementation with fatty acid suppresses the inositol auxotrophy
and INO1 transcriptional defect of
snf1
strains.
In mammalian cells, fatty
acyl-CoAs are known to inhibit Acc1 activity (53, 56), and
in S. cerevisiae the addition of exogenous fatty acids to
the medium inhibits both Acc1 and fatty acid synthase activity
(12) through a mechanism that appears to require acyl-CoA
synthase activity (19, 39). Therefore, we asked whether
addition of exogenous fatty acids to medium lacking inositol would
restore growth of a snf1
10 strain. As shown in Fig. 4, supplementation of medium with
0.5 mM palmitoleic acid (C16:1) allowed growth of the
snf1
mutant strain (lower left panel). In medium that
contained C16:1 and lacked inositol, the snf1
10 strain grew similarly to the
snf1
10 ACC1-794 strain in the absence of
inositol (Fig. 4, lower panels). However, the snf1
strain
exhibited a slightly longer lag time and did not grow to as high a
density in
I +C16:1 medium as in +I
C16:1 medium (Fig. 4, lower
left panel).
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strains, Northern analysis was performed. As shown
in Fig. 5, addition of palmitoleic acid
(C16:1) to medium lacking inositol restored INO1
transcription in snf1
10 strains (lane 8).
Addition of C16:1 to the growth medium of the
snf1
10 ACC1-794 strain also increased
INO1 transcription (Fig. 5, lanes 10 and 11). However, this
higher level of INO1 transcription was no greater than that seen in strains containing ACC1-794 alone, in the presence
or absence of exogenous C16:1 (Fig. 5, lanes 12 and 15).
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and wild-type strains under conditions of fatty acid
supplementation, we employed a strain carrying an
INO1-CYC1-lacZ fusion. Cells carrying this fusion were grown
in inositol-containing medium (+I
C16:1), shifted to inositol-free
medium, and harvested for
-galactosidase assays. As expected, the
snf1
10 mutant strain was unable to derepress
INO1-CYC1-lacZ in inositol-free medium, while the wild-type
strain exhibited rapid derepression, as previously reported
(58). The snf1
10 mutant, however,
was able to induce INO1 expression in inositol-free medium
when palmitoleic acid was supplied (
I +C16:1). However, the kinetics
of induction were not as rapid as those observed for the wild-type
strain shifted to
I medium, with or without fatty acid. The increase
in
-galactosidase expression driven by the INO1 promoter
with the snf1
strain grown in
I +C16:1 medium
paralleled the increase in optical density of the culture (Fig.
6, lower panel). The wild-type strain
also exhibited greater lacZ induction when transferred to
I +C16:1 medium than when transferred to
I
C16:1 medium. Thus,
addition of C16:1 fatty acid appears to result in an increase in
INO1 transcription in both wild-type and
snf1
10 cells.
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Inhibition of Acc1 enzyme activity correlates with suppression of
the snf1
inositol auxotrophy.
To confirm data
obtained from our in vivo studies, Acc1 activity and protein
levels, as well as ACC1 steady state mRNA levels, were determined. Total activity of Acc1 isolated from a
snf1
10 strain was elevated approximately
threefold relative to that of Acc1 isolated from a
SNF1+ strain (Fig.
7A), and this activity from
snf1
10 cells was more resistant to soraphen A
in vitro (data not shown). However, ACC1 mRNA and
protein levels (Fig. 7C and data not shown) were lower in the
snf1
mutant strain, suggesting significantly increased specific activity (5- to 7-fold) of acetyl-CoA carboxylase if it
remains unphosphorylated by the Snf1 kinase. The level of acetyl-CoA carboxylase activity was lower in the ACC1-794 mutant (Fig.
7A) despite increased ACC1 expression (Fig. 7C) and about
fourfold-higher levels of Acc1 protein (data not shown). These data
suggest that Acc1 activity controls an autoregulatory loop, leading to
reduced expression of ACC1 in a snf1
strain
where Acc1 activity is stimulated by a lack of phosphorylation.
Conversely, increased ACC1 expression is observed in the
ACC1-794 strain, which has impaired enzymatic activity.
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strain
with fatty acid (C16:1; 100 µM without detergent) resulted in a
reduced level of Acc1 activity, from a level threefold higher than that of the wild type to a level 1.4-fold higher than that of the wild type
(Fig. 7B). This reduction in Acc1 activity by more than 50% in the
snf1
and wild-type strains grown in the presence of fatty acid was comparable to the relative drop in ACC1 expression
under these conditions (Fig. 7C).
The phospholipid composition of snf1
cells does
not reflect the state of INO1 expression.
Changes
in the pattern of phospholipid synthesis have been implicated in the
mechanism of INO1 derepression (30). Wild-type cells grown in media lacking inositol exhibit increased synthesis of
phosphatidic acid (PtdOH) and CDP diacylglycerol (CDP-DAG) and
decreased synthesis of phosphatidylinositol (PtdIns) compared to the
same cells grown in media containing inositol (5, 40). By
pulse labeling phospholipids with 32P, we found
that both wild-type and snf1
10 strains
displayed elevated synthesis of PtdOH and CDP-DAG following transfer to
I media, whether or not C16:1 was present (data not shown). Thus, neither the inositol auxotrophy of snf1
10
strains nor the suppression of this phenotype by C16:1 appears to
be correlated to alterations in phospholipid synthesis. These data
suggest that Snf1 may act downstream of or independently of the
signal produced through phospholipid metabolism to affect
INO1 transcription.
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DISCUSSION |
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Previous selections for extragenic suppressors of snf1
mutations relied on the inability of snf1 mutants to
derepress glucose-repressible genes such as SUC2 (9,
43, 72). These studies resulted in the isolation of mutations in
components of the Srb-mediator complex associated with RNA polymerase
II. In contrast, we selected for suppressors of the inositol auxotrophy
conferred by a snf1
mutation and identified components of
the fatty acid biosynthetic pathway. We have shown that the inositol
auxotrophy of snf1
cells, which correlates with decreased
expression of the INO1 gene, is suppressed by mutations in
genes encoding acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC1) and a subunit
of fatty acid synthase (FAS1) as well as by provision of
exogenous fatty acid. The mutants isolated in the present study
define a role in yeast for fatty acid biosynthesis in metabolic
signaling and a role for the Snf1 kinase in controlling lipid
metabolism. Moreover, we have identified acetyl-CoA carboxylase as a
target of the Snf1 kinase that is relevant to transcriptional regulation of phospholipid biosynthesis.
Snf1 is necessary for expression but not regulation of
INO1.
Analysis of the pattern of INO1
expression in diverse genetic backgrounds including mutants with
defects in phospholipid metabolism supports the hypothesis that PtdOH,
or a closely related lipid, generates a signal that results in
derepression of UASINO-containing genes
such as INO1 (10, 30). Since fatty acids are
immediate precursors of PtdOH (Fig. 8)
and we have identified a role for fatty acid metabolism as a target for
Snf1 signaling, we considered the possibility that Snf1 might transmit
the inositol-sensitive signal controlling INO1 expression.
However, two lines of evidence, presented here, suggest that this is
not the case. First, the response to inositol deprivation is believed
to be initiated by a shift in the pattern of phospholipid metabolism
that includes increased accumulation of PtdOH and CDP-DAG and decreased
synthesis of PtdIns (40). However, the snf1
mutant exhibited a pattern of phospholipid synthesis comparable to that
of wild-type cells when shifted to inositol-free medium, and this
pattern was unaffected by the addition of fatty acid. Second, when
INO1 expression is restored in snf1
cells by
provision of fatty acid (16:1) or by introduction of the
ACC1-794 or fas1-803 mutations, regulation in
response to inositol is also restored. Thus, an active Snf1 kinase is
not needed to transmit the inositol-sensitive signal, and, furthermore,
the presence or absence of an active SNF1 gene product does
not seem to influence the pattern of phospholipid synthesis that is
believed to be involved in the signaling. Thus, the Snf1 kinase appears
to affect the overall level of INO1 expression rather than
its regulation in response to inositol or phospholipid metabolism.
|
mutant had a slightly lower
proportion of C16:0 fatty acids than the wild type, but so did the
fas1 mutant, whether or not the snf1 mutation was
present (unpublished observations). Cells carrying the
ACC1-794 mutation, like previously described acc1
mutants (65, 66), exhibited an increased proportion of 16 carbon fatty acids, whether or not the snf1 mutation was
also present. Thus, there was no clear correlation between the cellular fatty acid composition and the ability to express INO1 in
the snf1 genetic background, which, however, does not
exclude potential effects of specifically localized altered lipid species.
Identification of Acc1 as a Snf1 substrate important for
INO1 expression.
Initially, it seemed paradoxical
that mutations that presumably reduce the rate of fatty acid
biosynthesis and provision of exogenous fatty acid had similar effects:
namely, suppression of the inositol auxotrophy of snf1
cells. However, this apparent paradox was resolved with the recognition
of a correlation between INO1 expression and total cellular
activity of acetyl-CoA carboxylase. Our first indication of such a
relationship came from the growth properties of various yeast strains
in the presence of soraphen A, a drug known to inhibit Acc1
specifically (78). As expected, snf1
cells,
previously reported to have high levels of Acc1 activity (81), were more resistant to soraphen A than wild-type
cells. The ACC1-794 mutation increased the soraphen A
sensitivity of both SNF1+ and
snf1
cells. Acc1 activity levels predicted by these
phenotypic results were confirmed by enzyme assays.
ACC1-794 double mutant strain, the absence of Snf1-dependent
phosphorylation of Acc1 increases the activity of the Acc1-794 mutant
enzyme to a level comparable to that of the wild type. The
ACC1-794 allele clearly reduces Acc1 function despite its
apparent dominance as a suppressor of the snf1
Ino
phenotype. We propose, therefore, that
suppression of the snf1
inositol auxotrophy is due to a
partial loss of Acc1 function. In support of this conclusion, we have
shown that the acc1cs allele, another
partial loss-of-function mutation, and reduced expression of
ACC1 from a doxycycline-repressible promoter also suppress
the snf1
inositol auxotrophy.
The provision of exogenous fatty acids also lowers Acc1 activity in
wild-type and snf1
cells, which is at least in part due to repression of ACC1 expression. Acyl-CoA, the end product
of fatty acid synthesis, is known to inhibit mammalian acetyl-CoA carboxylase activity in vitro (53, 56). Kamiryo et al.
reported that exogenous fatty acid caused a reduction of Acc1 activity in yeast and, furthermore, that activation of exogenous fatty acid to
acyl-CoA was necessary for the reduction in Acc1 activity (39). We found that the level of Acc1 activity in
snf1
cells grown in the presence of exogenous 16:1 fatty
acid is reduced to a level almost comparable to that for the wild-type
strain grown in the absence of added fatty acid. Under these
conditions, INO1 is expressed. Indeed, in each case (the
presence of the ACC1-794 mutation or the provision of fatty
acid), the ability of cells to express INO1 is correlated
with a reduction of Acc1 activity to a level comparable to or lower
than that found in wild-type cells grown in the absence of exogenous
fatty acid.
The nature of the Snf1-dependent signal controlling
INO1 expression.
Our analysis of the
fas1-803 suppressor mutation presents a potential
contradiction to the hypothesis that the ability to express
INO1 is correlated with Acc1 activity. The
fas1-803 strain exhibited Acc1 activity levels comparable to
wild-type levels in vitro, despite the ability of the
fas1-803 mutation to suppress the
Ino
phenotype conferred by
snf1
10. Consistent with this observation, the
fas1 mutant does not appear to have increased soraphen A
sensitivity. The fas1-803 snf1
10 mutant
exhibits resistance to the drug that is, at best, only slightly reduced
compared to that of the snf1
10 strain.
cells which exhibit elevated Acc1 activity, a
mutated Fas1 subunit might cause the step catalyzed by fatty acid
synthase to become rate limiting. Overall, our results support the
hypothesis that Acc1 either is directly involved in the mechanism by
which Snf1 controls INO1 expression or exerts its influence
by affecting the flux of metabolites through the fatty acid
biosynthetic pathway. Interestingly, ACC1 expression itself
is repressed by inositol in the growth medium through a regulatory
circuit that involves the Ino2 and Ino4 transcription factors as well
as Opi1, all of which also control INO1 regulation
(13, 29).
We favor the idea that the level of a metabolite(s) produced or
utilized in fatty acid biosynthesis, an energy-demanding process, is
responsible for generating a signal which affects INO1
transcription. High levels of energy-rich metabolites may favor
INO1 transcription, while low levels may tend to repress
INO1 expression. Recent reports demonstrating that certain
histone deacetylases, including those encoded by SIR2 and
its homologues (35, 45), require
NAD+ suggest the possibility that metabolic
factors affecting the NAD+ levels may globally
affect patterns of gene expression through influencing chromatin
structure. Malonyl-CoA levels might also serve as a metabolic sensor,
as they have been postulated to do in mammalian cells, possibly through
inhibition of Acc1 or by triggering other metabolic signals that may
influence cellular energy levels and affect chromatin modification.
Interestingly, a link between Acc1 activity and expression of another
gene, PHO5, has been reported (46). In this
case, constitutive PHO5 expression was observed in several
acc1 mutant strains, and the authors also concluded that a
metabolite(s) of fatty acid biosynthesis might serve as a signaling
molecule for transcriptional regulation of this gene (46).
Acetyl-CoA, another metabolite that could potentially affect
INO1 expression, serves as a substrate for both fatty acid
biosynthesis and histone acetylation. Since acetyl-CoA carboxylase uses
acetyl-CoA directly as a substrate, high levels of Acc1 activity might
deplete the pools of acetyl-CoA normally reserved for histone
acetylation. Transcription of the INO1 gene is known to be
sensitive to mutations that affect histone acetyltransferase and
histone deacetylase complexes. Mutations in SIN3, which
encodes a component of the Sin3-Rpd3 histone deacetylase complex, lead
to high levels of INO1 expression (34). In
contrast, mutations that remove certain components of the SAGA
histone acetyltransferase cause inositol auxotrophy and a severe defect
in INO1 activation (21, 59). Because histone
acetylation is required for the recruitment of certain transcriptional
activators (14, 41) and ultimately for the recruitment of
TBP (1) to promoters, metabolic changes that influence
this process could lead to dramatic effects on gene regulation.
Recently, acetyl-CoA has been shown to stimulate promoter binding by
TFIID in vitro, suggesting another mechanism by which Acc1 may regulate
transcription (20). Significantly, we initially uncovered
a role for the Snf1 kinase pathway in INO1 transcription by
searching for suppressors of a mutant Ino4 activator protein and a DNA
binding-defective TBP (57, 67). Continued genetic and
biochemical studies will help elucidate how the Snf1 kinase pathway and
additional signal transduction cascades control chromatin modification
or other events that culminate in activation of INO1 transcription.
| |
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
|---|
The first three authors contributed equally to this work.
We thank A. Tartakoff, H. Klein, E. Schweizer, J. Hegemann, F. Winston, and D. Entian for strains and plasmids; A. Jandrositz and G. Gogg for constructing the tetO-ACC1 strain and G. Gogg for fatty acid analyses and support with enzyme preparations; A. Freund (BASF) for the gift of soraphen A; and K. Roinick for technical assistance.
This work was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health to K.M.A. (GM52593 and AI01816) and S.A.H. (GM19629) and the Austrian Science Fund, FWF (F706), to S.D.K.
| |
FOOTNOTES |
|---|
* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, 269 Crawford Hall, Pittsburgh, PA 15260. Phone: (412) 624-6963. Fax: (412) 624-4759. E-mail: arndt{at}pitt.edu.
Present address: Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics,
Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853.
| |
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