A yeast gene necessary for bud-site selection encodes a protein similar to insulin-degrading enzymes.
Cells of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae choose bud sites in a non-random spatial pattern that depends on mating type: axial for haploid cells and bipolar for a/alpha diploid cells. We identified a mutant yeast, axl 1, in which the budding pattern is altered from axial to bipolar. Expression of the AXL1 gene is repressed in a/alpha diploid cells. With the ectopic expression of AXL1, a/alpha cells exhibited an axial budding pattern, thus AXL1 is a key morphological determinant that distinguishes the budding pattern of haploid cells from that of a/alpha diploid cells. AXL1 encodes a protein similar in sequence of the human and Drosophila insulin-degrading enzymes and to the Escherichia coli ptr gene product. The axial budding pattern might result from degradation of a target protein by the putative Axl1 protease.
Fujita
A
A
National Institute of Bioscience and Human-Technology, Tsukuba, Japan.
Oka
C
C
Arikawa
Y
Y
Katagai
T
T
Tonouchi
A
A
Kuhara
S
S
Misumi
Y
Y
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002455:Cell Division; D004247:DNA; D004330:Drosophila; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D005800:Genes, Fungal; D049770:Genes, Mating Type, Fungal; D006801:Humans; D007328:Insulin / Q000378:metabolism; D008666:Metalloendopeptidases; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
D005656:Fungal Proteins; D007328:Insulin; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins; D004247:DNA; C090850:AXL1 protein, S cerevisiae; D008666:Metalloendopeptidases