title: Genome organization of the linear Pichia etchellsii plasmid pPE1A: evidence for expression of an extracellular chitin-binding protein homologous to the alpha-subunit of the Kluyveromyces lactis killer toxin.
abstract: Pichia etchellsii CBS2011 (synonym Debaryomyces etchellsii) is a non-killer yeast harbouring two cryptic linear cytoplasmic DNA-elements, pPE1A (6.7 kb) and pPE1B (12.8 kb). Cloning and complete sequencing of pPE1A revealed a 6749-bp element with a remarkably high A+T content of 77.6%. The termini of pPE1A were found to consist of inversely orientated identical nucleotide repetitions of 178bp, to which proteins are linked at the 5'-ends. It is only the second small, non-autonomous cytoplasmic yeast linear plasmid for which the complete nucleotide sequence is known. Five open reading frames (ORFs) were identified preceded by upstream conserved sequence motifs (UCS) characteristic for cytoplasmic promoters and perfectly matching the UCS consensus (ATNTGA). As none of the putative genes encodes a DNA-polymerase, pPE1A is the first yeast linear plasmid known that does not possess its own element-specific replication machinery. No function could be attributed to ORF1, 3, 4, and 5; the predicted ORF2 gene product is similar to chitin-binding proteins and chitinases, highest homologies were found to the precursor of the alpha- and beta-subunits of the secreted Kluyveromyces lactis zymocin. Consistently, the Orf2p could be isolated from the culture fluid by chitin-Sepharose affinity chromatography and characterized by immuno-probing with an antibody specific for the K. lactis killer toxin alpha-subunit. Production of the protein was found to be plasmid-dependent. The sequence of pPE1A has been submitted to the EMBL data library, Accession No. AJ409097.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Mikrobiologie, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Corrensstr. 3, D-48149, Münster, Germany.
authors.forename: Roland
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Klassen
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Jablonowski
authors.forename: Raffael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Schaffrath
authors.forename: Friedhelm
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Meinhardt
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002686:Chitin / Q000378:metabolism*; D002846:Chromatography, Affinity; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D016678:Genome; D055646:Killer Factors, Yeast; D007716:Kluyveromyces / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009183:Mycotoxins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics; D016366:Open Reading Frames / Q000235:genetics; D010843:Pichia / Q000235:genetics*; D010957:Plasmids / Q000235:genetics*; D011485:Protein Binding; D021122:Protein Subunits; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D005656:Fungal Proteins; D055646:Killer Factors, Yeast; D009183:Mycotoxins; D021122:Protein Subunits; C058975:zymocin; D002686:Chitin