title: ALG gene expression and cell cycle progression.
abstract: The evolutionarily conserved ALG genes function in the dolichol pathway in the synthesis of the lipid-linked oligosaccharide precursor for protein N-glycosylation. Increasing evidence suggests a role for these genes in the cell cycle. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, coordinate regulation of the ALG genes makes up the primary genomic response to growth stimulation; several features of the ALG genes' expression resemble mammalian early growth response genes. However, only the first gene in the pathway, ALG7, is downregulated in response to an antimitogenic signal that leads to cell cycle arrest and differentiation, suggesting that selective inhibition of the first gene may be sufficient to regulate the dolichol pathway for the withdrawal from the cell cycle. The availability of mutants in the early essential ALG genes has established functional relationships between these genes' expression and G1/S transition, budding, progression through G2 and withdrawal from the cell cycle. Analysis of the regulation of ALG7 has provided insights into how this gene's expression is controlled at the molecular level. Recent studies have also begun to reveal how ALG7 expression is linked to cell cycle arrest in response to antimitogenic cues and have identified G1 cyclins as some of its downstream targets. Since the functions of the ALG genes appear to be as conserved among eukaryotes as the cell cycle machinery, it is likely that these genes play a similar role in mammalian cell proliferation and differentiation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, School of Dental Medicine, and Department of Biochemistry, School of Medicine, Boston University Medical Center, Boston, MA 02118, USA. mkukuruz@bu.edu
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Kukuruzinska
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lennon-Hopkins
mesh_terms: D002453:Cell Cycle / Q000235:genetics; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D005800:Genes, Fungal; D008364:Mannosyltransferases / Q000235:genetics; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins; D017855:Transferases (Other Substituted Phosphate Groups) / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D005656:Fungal Proteins; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins; C083733:ALG2 protein, S cerevisiae; C104466:ALG3 protein, S cerevisiae; D008364:Mannosyltransferases; D017855:Transferases (Other Substituted Phosphate Groups); C023222:UDPacetylglucosamine-dolichyl-phosphate acetylglucosamine-1-phosphate transferase