title: eth-1, the Neurospora crassa locus encoding S-adenosylmethionine synthetase: molecular cloning, sequence analysis and in vivo overexpression.
abstract: Intense biochemical and genetic research on the eth-1r mutant of Neurospora crassa suggested that this locus might encode S-adenosylmethionine synthetase (S-Adomet synthetase). We have used protoplast transformation and phenotypic rescue of a thermosensitive phenotype associated with the eth-1r mutation to clone the locus. Nucleotide sequence analysis demonstrated that it encodes S-Adomet synthetase. Homology analyses of prokaryotic, fungal and higher eukaryotic S-Adomet synthetase polypeptide sequences show a remarkable evolutionary conservation of the enzyme. N. crassa strains carrying S-Adomet synthetase coding sequences fused to a strong heterologous promoter were constructed to assess the phenotypic consequences of in vivo S-Adomet synthetase overexpression. Studies of growth rates and microscopic examination of vegetative development revealed that normal growth and morphogenesis take place in N. crassa even at abnormally high levels of cellular S-Adomet. The degree of cytosine methylation of a naturally methylated genomic region was dependent on the cellular levels of S-Adomet. We conclude that variation in S-Adomet levels in N. crassa cells, which in addition to the status of genomic DNA methylation could modify the flux of other S-Adomet-dependent metabolic pathways, does not affect growth rate or morphogenesis.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Química Biológica (CIQUIBIC-CONICET), Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina.
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Mautino
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Barra
authors.forename: A L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Rosa
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004271:DNA, Fungal; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D015966:Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal; D005800:Genes, Fungal; D005816:Genetic Complementation Test; D006358:Hot Temperature; D006801:Humans; D008716:Methionine Adenosyltransferase / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009492:Neurospora crassa / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics; D010455:Peptides / Q000737:chemistry; D010641:Phenotype; D017421:Sequence Analysis; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D018076:DNA, Complementary; D004271:DNA, Fungal; D005656:Fungal Proteins; D010455:Peptides; D008716:Methionine Adenosyltransferase