title: Functional conservation of coenzyme Q biosynthetic genes among yeasts, plants, and humans.
abstract: Coenzyme Q (CoQ) is an essential factor for aerobic growth and oxidative phosphorylation in the electron transport system. The biosynthetic pathway for CoQ has been proposed mainly from biochemical and genetic analyses of Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae; however, the biosynthetic pathway in higher eukaryotes has been explored in only a limited number of studies. We previously reported the roles of several genes involved in CoQ synthesis in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Here, we expand these findings by identifying ten genes (dps1, dlp1, ppt1, and coq3-9) that are required for CoQ synthesis. CoQ10-deficient S. pombe coq deletion strains were generated and characterized. All mutant fission yeast strains were sensitive to oxidative stress, produced a large amount of sulfide, required an antioxidant to grow on minimal medium, and did not survive at the stationary phase. To compare the biosynthetic pathway of CoQ in fission yeast with that in higher eukaryotes, the ability of CoQ biosynthetic genes from humans and plants (Arabidopsis thaliana) to functionally complement the S. pombe coq deletion strains was determined. With the exception of COQ9, expression of all other human and plant COQ genes recovered CoQ10 production by the fission yeast coq deletion strains, although the addition of a mitochondrial targeting sequence was required for human COQ3 and COQ7, as well as A. thaliana COQ6. In summary, this study describes the functional conservation of CoQ biosynthetic genes between yeasts, humans, and plants.
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Science and Biotechnology, Faculty of Life and Environmental Science, Shimane University, Matsue, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazuhiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hayashi
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Science and Biotechnology, Faculty of Life and Environmental Science, Shimane University, Matsue, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ogiyama
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Science and Biotechnology, Faculty of Life and Environmental Science, Shimane University, Matsue, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazumasa
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yokomi
authors.affiliation: Interdisciplinary Center for Science Research, Shimane University, Matsue, Japan.
authors.forename: Tsuyoshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nakagawa
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Science and Biotechnology, Faculty of Life and Environmental Science, Shimane University, Matsue, Japan.
authors.forename: Tomohiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kaino
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Science and Biotechnology, Faculty of Life and Environmental Science, Shimane University, Matsue, Japan.
authors.forename: Makoto
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kawamukai
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D053898:Biosynthetic Pathways; D017353:Gene Deletion; D005800:Genes, Fungal; D017343:Genes, Plant; D006801:Humans; D012568:Schizosaccharomyces / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D014451:Ubiquinone / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D014451:Ubiquinone