Exogenous inositol and genes responsible for inositol transport are required for mating and sporulation in Shizosaccharomyces pombe

C Niederberger; R Gräub; A M Schweingruber; H Fankhauser; M Rusu; M Poitelea; L Edenharter; M E Schweingruber

doi:10.1007/s002940050334

Exogenous inositol and genes responsible for inositol transport are required for mating and sporulation in Shizosaccharomyces pombe

Curr Genet. 1998 Apr;33(4):255-61. doi: 10.1007/s002940050334.

Authors

C Niederberger¹, R Gräub, A M Schweingruber, H Fankhauser, M Rusu, M Poitelea, L Edenharter, M E Schweingruber

Affiliation

¹ Institute of General Microbiology, University of Bern, Switzerland.

PMID: 9560432
DOI: 10.1007/s002940050334

Abstract

Fission yeast, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, is a natural inositol auxotroph. We show here that the amount of exogenous inositol added to the medium is critical for the control of its life cycle. Above growth-limiting concentrations inositol stimulates mating and sporulation in minimal medium. The effect of inositol is also observed on yeast-extract-medium plates. We selected a mutant, IM49, which mates and sporulates only poorly and show that it is defective in inositol transport. Its defect is in a gene (itr2) coding for a putative 12 membrane-spanning protein. The polypeptide contains the two sugar-transport motifs typical for hexose transporters and shows good homology to the two Saccharomyces cerevisiae inositol transporters. The itr2 gene is essential for cell growth and its mRNA level is repressed by glucose. Mutant IM49 is also complemented by a multicopy suppressor gene (itr1) which codes for a putative hexose transporter with unknown substrate specifity.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Amino Acid Sequence
Base Sequence
Biological Transport, Active / genetics
Carrier Proteins / chemistry
Carrier Proteins / genetics
Carrier Proteins / metabolism
DNA Primers / genetics
Fungal Proteins / chemistry
Fungal Proteins / genetics
Fungal Proteins / metabolism
Genes, Fungal*
Genetic Complementation Test
Inositol / metabolism*
Membrane Transport Proteins*
Molecular Sequence Data
Monosaccharide Transport Proteins
Mutation
Phenotype
Restriction Mapping
Saccharomyces cerevisiae / genetics
Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins*
Schizosaccharomyces / genetics*
Schizosaccharomyces / growth & development
Schizosaccharomyces / physiology*
Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
Spores, Fungal / genetics
Spores, Fungal / physiology

Substances

Carrier Proteins
DNA Primers
Fungal Proteins
ITR1 protein, S cerevisiae
ITR2 protein, S cerevisiae
Membrane Transport Proteins
Monosaccharide Transport Proteins
Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins
Inositol

Associated data

GENBANK/X99105