title: The Menkes/Wilson disease gene homologue in yeast provides copper to a ceruloplasmin-like oxidase required for iron uptake.
abstract: The CCC2 gene of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is homologous to the human genes defective in Wilson disease and Menkes disease. A biochemical hallmark of these diseases is a deficiency of copper in ceruloplasmin and other copper proteins found in extracytosolic compartments. Here we demonstrate that disruption of the yeast CCC2 gene results in defects in respiration and iron uptake. These defects could be reversed by supplementing cells with copper, suggesting that CCC2 mutant cells were copper deficient. However, cytosolic copper levels and copper uptake were normal. Instead, CCC2 mutant cells lacked a copper-dependent oxidase activity associated with the extracytosolic domain of the FET3-encoded protein, a ceruloplasmin homologue previously shown to be necessary for high-affinity iron uptake in yeast. Copper restored oxidase activity both in vitro and in vivo, paralleling the ability of copper to restore respiration and iron uptake. These results suggest that the CCC2-encoded protein is required for the export of copper from the cytosol into an extracytosolic compartment, supporting the proposal that intracellular copper transport is impaired in Wilson disease and Menkes disease.
authors.affiliation: Cell Biology and Metabolism Branch, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
authors.forename: D S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Stearman
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dancis
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Dunn
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Beeler
authors.forename: R D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Klausner
mesh_terms: D000251:Adenosine Triphosphatases / Q000235:genetics; D001483:Base Sequence; D027682:Cation Transport Proteins; D002570:Ceruloplasmin / Q000235:genetics*; D003300:Copper / Q000494:pharmacology; D000079922:Copper Transport Proteins; D004794:Enzyme Repression; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D005800:Genes, Fungal / Q000187:drug effects; D006527:Hepatolenticular Degeneration / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D007501:Iron / Q000378:metabolism*; D007706:Menkes Kinky Hair Syndrome / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009838:Oligodeoxyribonucleotides; D010088:Oxidoreductases / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins
chemical_list: C092974:CCC2 protein, S cerevisiae; D027682:Cation Transport Proteins; D000079922:Copper Transport Proteins; D005656:Fungal Proteins; D009838:Oligodeoxyribonucleotides; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins; D003300:Copper; D007501:Iron; D010088:Oxidoreductases; D002570:Ceruloplasmin; D000251:Adenosine Triphosphatases