Effects of regulatory mutations upon methionine biosynthesis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae: loci eth2-eth3-eth10

J Bacteriol. 1973 Sep;115(3):1084-93. doi: 10.1128/jb.115.3.1084-1093.1973.

Abstract

The effects of mutations occurring at three independent loci, eth2, eth3, and eth10, were studied on the basis of several criteria: level of resistance towards two methionine analogues (ethionine and selenomethionine), pool sizes of free methionine and S-adenosyl methionine (SAM) under different growth conditions, and susceptibility towards methionine-mediated repression and SAM-mediated repression of some enzymes involved in methionine biosynthesis (met group I enzymes). It was shown that: (i) the level of resistance towards both methionine analogues roughly correlates with the amount of methionine accumulated in the pool; (ii) the repressibility of met group I enzymes by exogenous methionine is either abolished or greatly lowered, depending upon the mutation studied; (iii) the repressibility of the same enzymes by exogenous SAM remains, in at least three mutants studied, close to that observed in a wild-type strain; (iv) the accumulation of SAM does not occur in the most extreme mutants either from endogenously overproduced or from exogenously supplied methionine: (v) the two methionine-activating enzymes, methionyl-transfer ribonucleic acid (tRNA) synthetase and methionine adenosyl transferase, do not seem modified in any of the mutants presented here; and (vi) the amount of tRNA(met) and its level of charging are alike in all strains. Thus, the three recessive mutations presented here affect methionine-mediated repression, both at the level of overall methionine biosynthesis which results in its accumulation in the pool, and at the level of the synthesis of met group I enzymes. The implications of these findings are discussed.

MeSH terms

  • Adenosine Triphosphate
  • Benzene / pharmacology
  • Cell-Free System
  • Enzyme Repression
  • Ethionine / pharmacology
  • Genes*
  • Homocysteine
  • Methionine / biosynthesis*
  • Methionine / pharmacology
  • Methyltransferases / biosynthesis
  • Mutation*
  • Nucleotidyltransferases / biosynthesis
  • Oxidoreductases / biosynthesis
  • S-Adenosylmethionine / biosynthesis
  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae / drug effects
  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae / enzymology
  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae / growth & development
  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae / metabolism*
  • Stereoisomerism
  • Sulfites
  • Transferases / biosynthesis

Substances

  • Sulfites
  • Homocysteine
  • S-Adenosylmethionine
  • Adenosine Triphosphate
  • Methionine
  • Oxidoreductases
  • Transferases
  • Methyltransferases
  • Nucleotidyltransferases
  • Benzene
  • Ethionine