title: Analysis of the meiotic role of the mitochondrial ribosomal proteins Mrps17 and Mrpl37 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
abstract: Sporulation in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a complex and tightly regulated pathway that involves the induction of a large number of genes. We have identified MRPS17 in a cDNA library enriched for sporulation-specific genes. Homology searches show that the first one-third of Mrps17 has strong sequence similarity to bacterial S17 proteins, suggesting that Mrps17 is a potential mitochondrial ribosomal protein. This is further supported by the fact that mrps17Delta cells are respiratory-deficient and that a Mrps17-GFP fusion localizes to the mitochondria. We have confirmed by Northern blot analysis that both MRPS17 and MRPL37 are strongly induced during the middle stages of sporulation and that this induction is dependent on the presence of a middle sporulation element (MSE) in the promoters of these genes. Interestingly, we found that Mrps17 and Mrpl37, but not other mitochondrial ribosomal proteins, accumulate during the middle stages of sporulation. These results suggest that Mrps17 and Mrpl37 may have additional meiosis-specific roles.
authors.affiliation: Waksman Institute of Microbiology, Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Rutgers State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ 08854-8020, USA.
authors.forename: Sean E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Hanlon
authors.forename: Zhiheng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: David N
authors.initials: DN
authors.lastname: Norris
authors.forename: Andrew K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Vershon
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D015152:Blotting, Northern; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D008540:Meiosis / Q000502:physiology*; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal; D024101:Mitochondrial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016296:Mutagenesis; D012331:RNA, Fungal / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D012269:Ribosomal Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development*; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D013172:Spores, Fungal / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D024101:Mitochondrial Proteins; D012331:RNA, Fungal; D012269:Ribosomal Proteins; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins