Functional characterization of drim2, the Drosophila melanogaster homolog of the yeast mitochondrial deoxynucleotide transporter.
The CG18317 gene (drim2) is the Drosophila melanogaster homolog of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae Rim2 gene, which encodes a pyrimidine (deoxy)nucleotide carrier. Here, we tested if the drim2 gene also encodes for a deoxynucleotide transporter in the fruit fly. The protein was localized to mitochondria. Drosophila S2R(+) cells, silenced for drim2 expression, contained markedly reduced pools of both purine and pyrimidine dNTPs in mitochondria, whereas cytosolic pools were unaffected. In vivo drim2 homozygous knock-out was lethal at the larval stage, preceded by the following: (i) impaired locomotor behavior; (ii) decreased rates of oxygen consumption, and (iii) depletion of mtDNA. We conclude that the Drosophila mitochondrial carrier dRIM2 transports all DNA precursors and is essential to maintain mitochondrial function.
From the Department of Biology, and.
Caterina
C
Da-Rè
Elisa
E
Franzolin
Alberto
A
Biscontin
Antonia
A
Piazzesi
Beniamina
B
Pacchioni
Maria Cristina
MC
Gagliani
Gabriella
G
Mazzotta
Carlo
C
Tacchetti
Mauro A
MA
Zordan
Massimo
M
Zeviani
Paolo
P
Bernardi
Vera
V
Bianchi
Cristiano
C
De Pittà
Rodolfo
R
Costa
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D001692:Biological Transport; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000378:metabolism; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000378:metabolism*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D033704:Nucleotide Transport Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D009711:Nucleotides / Q000737:chemistry; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D010101:Oxygen Consumption; D034622:RNA Interference; D012330:RNA, Double-Stranded / Q000378:metabolism; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D033704:Nucleotide Transport Proteins; D009711:Nucleotides; C092511:RIM2 protein, S cerevisiae; D012330:RNA, Double-Stranded; C588332:Rim2 protein, Drosophila; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins
Drosophila; Mitochondria; Mitochondrial DNA; Mitochondrial Transport; Nucleotide