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J Biol Chem, Vol. 273, Issue 47, 31138-31144, November 20, 1998
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From the
Department of Environmental Health Sciences,
Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland
21202 and the
Department of Physiology and
Biophysics, University of California, Irvine, California 92697
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ABSTRACT |
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Yeast deficient in the cytosolic copper/zinc
superoxide dismutase (SOD1) exhibit metabolic defects
indicative of oxidative damage even under non-stress conditions. To
help identify the endogenous sources of this oxidative damage, we
isolated mutant strains of S. cerevisiae that suppressed
metabolic defects associated with loss of SOD1. Six
complementation groups were isolated and three of the corresponding
genes have been identified. One sod1 Superoxide dismutase
(SOD)1 plays an important
role in guarding aerobic organisms against oxidative damage. This
enzyme acts to disproportionate two molecules of superoxide anion
(O The determinants of oxidative damage relevant to eukaryotic SOD are
less well understood. Eukaryotes typically contain a
manganese-containing SOD (SOD2) that is confined to the matrix of the
mitochondria and a copper/zinc-containing SOD1 that appears to be
widely distributed throughout the cell, but is excluded from the
mitochondrial matrix (10-12). Genetic studies in the bakers' yeast
Saccharomyces cerevisiae have shown that mitochondrial SOD2
acts in defense against respiration-derived radicals. Yeast cells
lacking SOD2 ("sod2 In an attempt to better understand the determinants of oxygen toxicity
related to SOD1, we sought to identify gene mutations that specifically
suppress the amino acid auxotrophies of sod1 Yeast Strains and Growth Conditions--
Strains of S. cerevisiae used in this study are derived from 1783 (MAT
Stocks of yeast strains were maintained on YPD medium containing 2%
glucose and tests for methionine and lysine auxotrophy were carried out
using a synthetic dextrose medium (27). Succinate dehydrogenase assays
were conducted on cells grown in a modified YPD medium containing 0.6%
glucose. Anaerobic cultures were maintained by growth in a
O2 depleted culture jar (BBL Gas Pak). Genetic analysis was
conducted according to standard procedures (27).
Isolation and Characterization of seo Mutants--
The parental
strain used for isolation of suppressors of SOD1 deficiency was the
sod1 Gene Cloning and Molecular Biology Techniques--
To isolate
the wild type chromosomal genes corresponding to seo1,
seo2, and seo4, the appropriate seo
strain was transformed with a wild type genomic DNA library present on
a LEU2 CEN vector (kind gift of F. Spencer, Johns Hopkins
University). Approximately 15,000 Leu+ colonies were
replica-plated onto two sets of leucine
To construct the yfh1 Measurements of Oxygen Consumption--
Yeast strains grown to
early stationary phase in YPD medium were harvested and resuspended to
a density of 1 × 109 cells/ml in a phosphate-buffered
solution containing 2% glucose. A 0.5-ml aliquot was added to 2.5 ml
of phosphate-buffered saline for which an oxygen-saturation baseline
had been established. Oxygen consumption per unit time was then
recorded continuously through use of a Clark oxygen electrode.
Following several minutes of monitoring, KCN was added at a final
concentration of 1 mM and recording continued for an
additional 4-5 min. The KCN inhibitable respiration rate was then
determined as a function of differential slopes obtained.
Enzyme Assays--
Assays for aconitase were conducted
essentially as described (29). Cells were grown in YPD medium to
stationary phase, harvested by centrifugation, and broken by glass bead
homogenization in phosphate buffer (pH 7.4). Cell lysates containing 75 µg of protein were assayed at 25 °C in 500 µl of aconitase
reaction buffer (29) containing 20 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.4),
100 mM NaCl, and 0.5 mM cis-aconitate. The
decrease in absorbance at 240 nm was measured as a function of time and
an extinction coefficient of 4.88 (mM cm)
Assays for succinate dehydrogenase were carried out as described (30).
Cells were grown in YPD (0.6% glucose) medium to stationary phase,
harvested by centrifugation, suspended in 20 mM Hepes (pH
7.4) containing 1 mM phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride, and
broken by passage through a French pressure cell three times at 20,000 psi. Cell lysates were clarified by centrifugation at 10,000 × g for 10 min, and submitochondrial particles were isolated by centrifugation at 100,000 × g for 60 min.
Activities were determined at 30 °C in 50 mM Hepes (pH
7.4), 0.1 mM EDTA, 1 mM potassium cyanide, 100 µM phenazine methosulfate, and 20 mM
succinate by reduction of dichlorophenol indophenol, Isolation of seo Mutants (Suppressors of
Endogenous Oxygen Toxicity)--
In an attempt
to identify metabolic sources of oxidative damage, S. cerevisiae gene mutations were sought that suppressed oxygen
toxicity in a yeast strain lacking copper/zinc SOD1. Two classes of
gene mutations were expected from this analysis: mutations that
resulted in an increased "anti-oxidant" capacity of the cell and
those that dampened the "pro-oxidant" production of oxygen radicals
from metabolic sources. Mutations that act at the pro-oxidant level
were expected to suppress only markers of endogenous oxygen toxicity
(e.g. the methionine or lysine auxotrophy) and not the sensitivity of sod1
Because the mitochondrial respiratory chain represents a potential
source of oxidative damage, we investigated whether the seo
mutants were respiratory deficient. The inability to utilize non-fermentable carbon sources is a hallmark of respiratory deficiency in yeast. When plated onto medium containing ethanol and glycerol, mutants seo1 and seo4 exhibited growth, albeit at
somewhat reduced rates, whereas mutants seo2, seo3,
seo5, and seo6 exhibited negligible growth under
these conditions (not shown). To more precisely monitor respiration,
measurements of cyanide-inhibitable oxygen consumption were obtained.
As seen in Fig. 1, all of the seo groups exhibited diminished respiration. The seo2 and seo5 mutants
showed negligible rates (<10%), seo3 and seo6
showed rates <20%, and seo1 and seo4 exhibited
oxygen consumption rates ranging from 50 to 80% that of the
corresponding wild type parental strain. These studies suggest that
alterations in respiration linked electron transfer may play a role in
the suppression of oxidative damage in certain classes of
seo mutants.
seo1 Is Equivalent to SSQ1, a Mitochondrial 70-kDa Molecular
Chaperone--
A wild type genomic DNA library was screened for clones
that complemented the aerobic methionine prototrophy of the
sod1
Very recently, SSQ1 was identified in a screen for yeast
genes that constitutively activate iron uptake pathways (35). These authors noted that strains defective for Ssq1p exhibit abnormal processing of mitochondrial Yfh1p, the yeast frataxin homologue involved in mitochondrial iron homeostasis (36-39). To address whether
ssq1 mutations suppress oxidative damage by impairing Yfh1p,
we constructed a yfh1 seo2 Is Equivalent to a New Member of the J-family of Molecular
Chaperones--
The gene corresponding to the seo2 mutant
was cloned in a manner analogous to that described for SSQ1.
These studies revealed that complementation of seo2 required
a single open reading frame (YGL018C) predicted to encode a polypeptide
of 21.8 kDa. This protein appears homologous to a subfamily of J-domain
containing co-chaperone proteins ~20 kDa, and we have designated this
gene JAC1 (J-type accessory
chaperone; see "Discussion"). Fig.
4A shows a comparison of the
amino acid sequence of the Jac1 protein with the E. coli
homologue, Hsc20. Jac1p has an N-terminal extension not present in the
bacterial protein, and this region has features consistent with a role
as a mitochondrial targeting sequence (40). Residues 26-82 share
similarities with J-motif sequences including the His-Pro-Asp signature
sequence at positions 48-50 (see Ref. 41). The C-terminal portion of
Jac1p and E. coli Hsc20 is dissimilar from that of the
larger DnaJ/hsp40 proteins (~40 kDa) and appears to comprise a domain
unique to this class of co-chaperone proteins.
Sequence analysis of the seo2 suppressor revealed a triplet
deletion mutation in JAC1 resulting in loss of the GAT codon
for Asp-32 without disrupting the reading frame (Fig. 4B).
Asp-32 is highly conserved in this subfamily of co-chaperones. To
determine whether the triplet deletion represents a null mutation, we
examined the effects of deleting the complete open reading frame of
JAC1. An ura3 seo4 Is Equivalent to NFS1--
Gene cloning experiments revealed
that seo4 is identical to S. cerevisiae NFS1, a
gene encoding a protein homologous to bacterial NifS proteins (42). The
NifS proteins, originally discovered in nitrogen fixing organisms,
exhibit cysteine desulfurase activity and have been implicated in
providing sulfide for assembly of iron-sulfur clusters of nitrogenase
components (43, 44). NifS-like proteins have since been found to occur
widely in non-nitrogen fixing organisms, and demonstrations that
Azotobacter vinelandii NifS can support assembly
of heterologous Fe/S proteins (45-47) suggest that the NFS1
gene product and its homologues function generally in Fe/S cluster
assembly. An alignment of yeast Nfs1p with the E. coli
homologue is shown in Fig. 5. Like Ssq1p
and Jac1p, the Nfs1 protein contains an N-terminal extension with features consistent with a role as a mitochondrial targeting sequence (40) that is absent in the bacterial homologue. Apart from this extended leader sequence, the yeast and bacterial proteins share ~60% amino acid sequence identity.
To confirm that mutation of the NFS1 gene was responsible
for suppressing SOD1 deficiency, the complete NFS1 open
reading frames of seo4 and the wild type parent were
sequenced. As shown in Fig. 5, a single Ala-308 to Thr replacement was
noted in the seo4 mutant, but not in the wild type protein.
The exact role of Ala-308 is not known, but it occurs within a region
of amino acids that is highly conserved among NifS homologues from both nitrogen fixing and non-fixing organisms and is thus likely to be
critical for enzyme function. Because the nfs1 null mutant is enviable (48, 49), this nfs1 substitution mutation is
expected only to partially inactivate protein function as suggested for the other seo mutations, jac1 and
ssq1.
Activities of Mitochondrial Fe/S Enzymes--
Because Nfs1p is
predicted to function in the maturation of mitochondrial iron-sulfur
proteins, we tested whether two mitochondrial Fe/S enzymes, aconitase
and succinate dehydrogenase, were affected in nfs1 mutants
and in the other seo suppressor strains as well. Because the
labile [4Fe-4S] cluster of aconitase is prone to oxidation by
O
Similar studies were carried out to determine whether the activity of
succinate dehydrogenase was affected in the suppressor mutants (Fig.
7). Each of the suppressor strains, with
the exception of seo4, exhibits reduced activity. Thus,
mutations in SSQ1 (seo1) and JAC1
(seo2) greatly reduce succinate dehydrogenase activity, but
the NFS1 mutation has no effect. The lack of an effect of nfs1-1 on succinate dehydrogenase compared with the large
effect observed for aconitase may reflect differences in the stability of the Fe/S clusters of the two enzymes (3, 5, 50, 51). The impaired
rate of sulfide production by the crippled, but not inactive, Nfs1-1
protein may be to sufficient to support maturation and repair of
succinate dehydrogenase but insufficient to maintain aconitase in an
active form.
The goal of these studies was to identify factors contributing to
an oxidative stress state in yeast cells lacking copper/zinc SOD1. Six
complementation groups were identified that suppress metabolic
oxidative damage in sod1 The genes affected in three of the seo complementation
groups have been cloned. Two of these genes (SSQ1 and
JAC1) encode members of the molecular chaperone family, and
the third (NFS1) is a member of the NifS family of proteins
involved in iron-sulfur cluster assembly. Several intriguing parallels
can be drawn with these three genes. First, all three appear to encode
mitochondrial proteins. Ssq1p has been shown to be mitochondrial (31),
and our preliminary cell fractionation studies indicate a mitochondrial localization for Jac1p (not shown). The presence of a mitochondrial targeting consensus sequence for Nfs1p suggests a mitochondrial localization for this protein as well. A second feature common to
JAC1, SSQ1, and NFS1 is that each are required
for normal yeast growth. The jac1 and nfs1 null
mutants are not viable. The ssq1 null mutant is viable but
grows only at elevated temperature where increased expression of
another mitochondrial chaperone, Ssc1p, may compensate for loss of
function (31). The mutant alleles isolated in this study can thus be
expected only to partially inactivate the encoded proteins, this
reduction being sufficient to suppress oxidative damage in yeast
lacking SOD1. As a third common denominator for JAC1, SSQ1,
and NFS1, all three appear necessary for functioning of
mitochondrial Fe/S proteins. Mutations in these genes result in
impairment of respiration and reduction in activities of the
mitochondrial Fe/S-containing enzymes, aconitase and succinate dehydrogenase.
In addition to the functional parallels between JAC1, SSQ1,
and NFS1, sequence homologies to bacterial proteins suggest
that they may cooperate in the assembly or maturation of
iron-sulfur clusters. DNA sequence data from several non-nitrogen
fixing bacteria, including E. coli (53),
Haemophilus influenzae (54), Buchnera aphidicola (55), Neisseria
gonnorhoeae,3 and
Pseudomonas
aeruginosa,4 reveal a
region containing both chaperone genes and genes homologous to the Fe/S
cluster maturation genes (nif genes) of nitrogen fixing bacteria. An analogous gene cluster, separate from the nif
genes, was also recently identified in the nitrogen fixing organism
A. vinelandii
(56).5 The occurrence of
nif-like genes in non-nitrogen fixing organisms and their
counterparts in A. vinelandii led Dean and co-workers (56)
to propose that these might play a role in formation or repair of
iron-sulfur proteins and to designate them as isc
(iron-sulfur cluster) genes. The sequential arrangement of the gene
cluster, iscSUA-hscBA-fdx, is similar in the different
organisms, and it appears likely that the genes are co-transcribed and
encode proteins with coupled functions. The yeast genes identified in
this study, SSQ1, JAC1, and NFS1,
exhibit sequence similarity to hscA, hscB, and
iscS, respectively. The similarity of Nfs1p to IscS suggests that it functions as a cysteine desulfurase. The fact that
NFS1 is the only NifS/IscS-like gene in S. cerevisiae and the fact that it is essential for viability
indicate that Nfs1p is likely to be the sole source for sulfide used
for Fe/S cluster assembly. The roles of chaperone proteins, Ssq1p and
Jac1p, are less obvious. Ssq1p exhibits ~40% identity to the
hscA gene product, Hsc66, but a similar homology has also
been noted between Hsc66 and the other mitochondrial hsp70 of yeast,
Ssc1p (57). Jac1p, on the other hand, clearly seems to correspond to
the yeast homologue of the hscB gene product, Hsc20. Several
J-domain containing proteins are present in yeast, including
mitochondrial Mdj1p (58) and Mdj2p (59), but Jac1p is the only one
similar to Hsc20 in size and predicted domain structure. In
vitro studies have shown that Hsc20 regulates the ATPase activity
of the Hsc66 chaperone (60), and Jac1p may function in a similar manner
as a co-chaperone to regulate the activity of Ssq1p. The findings that
mutations in Ssq1p and Jac1p result in impaired respiratory rates and
diminished activities of the mitochondrial Fe/S enzymes, aconitase and
succinate dehydrogenase, suggest that these proteins may function in
the assembly or repair of Fe/S clusters. Furthermore, mutations in SSQ1 have recently been shown to alter mitochondrial iron
homeostasis (35).
In addition to iscS, hscA, and hscB, other
members of the bacterial iscSUA-hscBA-fdx gene cluster
appear to have counterparts in eukaryotes. Inspection of the S. cerevisiae genome reveals the presence of two homologues of
iscU (YOR226C and YPL135W) and single homologues of
iscA (YLL027W) and fdx (FDX1). Each of
the predicted yeast proteins contains an N-terminal extension, not present in the corresponding bacterial protein, that exhibits features
found in mitochondrial targeting sequences. Thus, eukaryotic mitochondria appear to have evolved with the same machinery for assembly of Fe/S clusters that is encoded by the
iscSUA-hscBA-fdx gene cluster of bacteria. The majority of
Fe/S proteins in eukaryotes are, in fact, located in mitochondria, and
include proteins of the respiratory chain (NADH dehydrogenase,
succinate dehydrogenase, Rieske protein) and citric acid cycle
(aconitase). The findings presented here on the seo mutants
are consistent with a model in which impairment of the mitochondrial
Fe/S cluster assembly machinery leads to oxygen resistance in cells
lacking copper/zinc SOD1.
How might the status of mitochondrial iron-sulfur proteins affect
oxygen resistance in sod1
suppressor
represents SSQ1 which encodes a hsp70-type molecular chaperone found in the mitochondria. A second sod1
suppressor gene, designated JAC1, represents a new member
of the 20-kDa J-protein family of co-chaperones. Jac1p contains a
mitochondrial targeting consensus sequence and may serve as the partner
for Ssq1p. Homologues of Ssq1p and Jac1p are found in bacteria in close
association with genes proposed to be involved in iron-sulfur protein
biosynthesis. The third suppressor gene identified was
NFS1. Nfs1p is homologous to cysteine desulfurase enzymes
that function in iron-sulfur cluster assembly and is also predicted to
be mitochondrial. Each of the suppressor mutants identified exhibited
diminished rates of respiratory oxygen consumption and was found to
have reduced mitochondrial aconitase and succinate dehydrogenase
activities. Taken together these results suggest a role for Ssq1p,
Jac1p, and Nfs1p in assembly/maturation of mitochondrial iron-sulfur
proteins and that one or more of the target Fe/S proteins contribute to
oxidative damage in cells lacking copper/zinc SOD.
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INTRODUCTION
Top
Abstract
Introduction
Procedures
Results
Discussion
References
2) to hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and
water, a reaction catalyzed by a single atom of iron, manganese, or
copper bound at the active site. Genetic studies in Escherichia
coli have demonstrated that bacterial SOD protects against
O
2 produced from leakage of electrons at the respiratory chain
(1, 2). In E. coli cells lacking SOD, elevated O
2
inactivates a family of dehydratases containing labile [4Fe-4S]
clusters (3-7). This oxidation of [4Fe-4S] clusters liberates iron
that is then free to catalyze Fenton chemistry production of highly
toxic hydroxyl radicals (OH
(8, 9).
") are sensitive toward environmental oxidants (e.g. paraquat) and toward hyperoxia
(13); in these sod2
mutants oxygen sensitivity can be
suppressed by rhoo mutations in mitochondrial DNA that
block respiration (14). The role of copper/zinc SOD1 appears to be more
complex. Yeast strains lacking SOD1 are also sensitive toward
environmental oxidants and hyperoxia, but unlike sod2
cells, the oxygen sensitivity of sod1
yeast is not
corrected by rhoo mutations blocking respiration (15). In
addition, sod1
mutants exhibit markers of oxidative
damage that appear to arise from endogenously generated oxidants. These
sod1
strains exhibit air-dependent blockages
in methionine and lysine biosynthesis that are not observed with
sod2
strains (16-20). Moreover, both auxotrophies are
observed under normoxic conditions in the absence of additional insult from environmental oxidants (16-20), suggesting that these metabolic defects in sod1
cells arise as a product of
metabolism-derived oxygen radicals. Valentine and colleagues (21) have
shown that inactivation of coenzyme Q partially alleviates the amino
acid auxotrophies of sod1
cells, suggesting that SOD1
does play a role in protection from O
2 produced by
mitochondrial respiration.
yeast as
markers of metabolic oxidative damage. This study led to the isolation
of three nuclear genes that are predicted to participate in the
assembly of mitochondrial iron-sulfur clusters. Our findings are
consistent with a model in which SOD1 helps guard against damage
derived from mitochondrial iron-sulfur proteins.
![]()
EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
Top
Abstract
Introduction
Procedures
Results
Discussion
References
,
leu2-3, 112,ura3-52, trp1-1, his4, can1r (22)) and the isogeneic
sod1
::TRP1 strain, KS105 (23). The MAT
sod1
strain (JS005) is equivalent to EG123 (isogeneic to 1783 except MAT
) containing a
sod1
::LEU2 mutation (23). The
sod2
strain JS002 represents 1783 containing a
sod2
::URA3 mutation as described (24). A
JAC1/jac1
::URA3 heterozygous diploid was
created by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-mediated gene disruption
method as described (25). The upstream and downstream primers spanned JAC1 sequences
48 to
2 and +704 to +664, both fused at
their 3' ends to 20 base pairs of the sequence designated by Brachmann et al. (25) for amplification of yeast auxotrophic markers. A jac1
::URA3 cassette was amplified by PCR
using the URA3 plasmid pRS306 as template (26). The cassette
was used to transform a ura3
0 diploid (25) and the
resultant JAC1/jac1
::URA3 heterozygous diploids
were identified by PCR analysis. The yfh1
::URA3
sod1
::TRP1 strain SG117 was obtained by deleting the
chromosomal YFH1 gene of KS105 using the
yfh1::URA3 deletion plasmid, pJS406. Deletion of
YFH1 sequences +15 to +160 with respect to the start codon was confirmed by colony PCR.
::TRP1 strain KS105 transformed with the
PMR1 LEU2 CEN plasmid p74C (28). An extra copy of the
PMR1 gene was introduced in this strain to preclude the
isolation of pmr1 mutational suppressors that typically
accumulate to a very high frequency
(10
5-10
6) in yeast lacking SOD1 (16). Ten
independent PMR1 transformants of KS105 were plated onto
medium lacking either lysine or methionine, and following 4 days of
aerobic growth, methionine, or lysine prototrophic colonies appeared at
a frequency of 10
7. A large number of these were isolated
and Leu
derivatives were generated that lost the
PMR1 LEU2 plasmid. Clones that consistently exhibited
methionine or lysine prototrophy and lack of growth on medium
containing 0.5 mM paraquat were chosen for further study.
These were designated as seo (suppressors of endogenous oxygen toxicity) mutants. Twenty
independent seo clones were mated to the sod1
strain of opposite mating type (JS005), and 10 recessive mutants were
identified. The diploids were sporulated and in all cases,
methionine/lysine prototrophy exhibited 2:2 segregation, demonstrating
mutation of a single gene. Utilizing MAT
seo segregants,
complementation analysis was conducted defining six seo
complementation groups. seo1 is represented by three
alleles, seo5 and seo6 each have 2 members and
the remainder seo mutants are represented by single alleles.
plates that
either contained or lacked methionine. Following 2 days of aerobic
growth, methionine auxotrophic colonies were identified. Plasmids were
rescued from these candidates and the genomic DNA insert of those
plasmids that consistently showed complementation of the seo1,
seo2, or seo4 methionine prototrophy were subjected
to partial DNA sequence analysis. A search of the S. cerevisiae data base revealed the open reading frames contained within each. Subcloning and deletion analysis demonstrated that the
complete open frames of SSQ1, YGL018C (referred to herein as
JAC1), and NFS1 were necessary and sufficient to
complement the seo1, seo2, and seo4
mutants, respectively.
::URA3 plasmid pJS406,
YFH1 sequences
480 to +15 and +160 to +671 were amplified
by PCR using modified primers that introduced a SalI site at
+160 or a BamHI site at +15. The products of PCR were
digested with HindIII and SalI (downstream fragment) or HindIII and BamHI (upstream
fragment) and ligated in a trimolecular reaction to the SalI
and BamHI sites of the URA3 integrating vector,
pRS306. The resultant pJS406 plasmid was linearized with
HindIII and used to delete the chromosomal YFH1
gene of KS105.
1
was utilized to calculate activity; 1 unit of aconitase activity is
defined as 1 nmol of cis-aconitate converted/min/mg of protein.

=
21
(mM cm)
1. Activities reported reflect linear
initial rates and are directly proportional to amounts of added protein.
![]()
RESULTS
Top
Abstract
Introduction
Procedures
Results
Discussion
References
yeast toward environmental oxidants
(e.g. paraquat). Therefore, we specifically isolated mutants
that permitted aerobic growth of a sod1
strain on medium
lacking methionine or lysine but did not alleviate the sensitivity of
this strain toward paraquat. These yeast isolates were designated as
seo mutants (suppressors of endogenous
oxygen toxicity). Genetic analysis defined those
seo gene mutations that were recessive, and these were
classified into six complementation groups (see "Experimental Procedures"). As shown in Fig. 1, all
six seo mutants rescued to some degree both the lysine and
methionine auxotrophy of the sod1
parental
strain.

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Fig. 1.
Suppression of SOD1 deficiency in six
seo complementation groups. Yeast strains were tested
for aerobic methionine and lysine auxotrophy by plating 5 × 105 cells in a 10-µl solution onto synthetic dextrose
medium supplemented with methionine or lysine as indicated. Aerobic
growth at 30 °C proceeded for 3 days. sod1
, parent
strain KS105; remaining strains are seo derivatives of
KS105, as indicated. resp. rate, rate of cyanide inhibitable
oxygen consumption shown as a percentage of that obtained with the
parental sod1
strain. n, negligible rates of
oxygen consumption (<10%). Each value represents the average of four
to five experimental trials, conducted in triplicate; values in
parentheses show ranges observed (±%). The standard deviation of the
result obtained with the sod1
seo1 mutant was
5.7%.
seo1 strains. These studies revealed that the
S. cerevisiae SSQ1 gene2 was necessary and
sufficient for complementation of the seo1 mutants. The Ssq1
protein was previously identified as a member of the hsp70 molecular
chaperone family that localizes to mitochondria (31). SSQ1
is not an essential gene, but the null mutant exhibits a cold-sensitive
phenotype (31). To confirm that the seo1 complementation group represented mutations in SSQ1, the complete open
reading frame of SSQ1 was sequenced in three independent
alleles of seo1 that were isolated. All three
seo1 isolates contained nonsense mutations that delete
portions of the C-terminal region of Ssq1p. As shown in Fig.
2, ssq1-1 contains a single
nonsense mutation at Lys-587, ssq1-2 contains two mutations,
a Ser to Pro substitution at position 594 and a nonsense mutation at
Gln-611, and ssq1-3 harbors a single nonsense mutation at
Gln-611. SSQ1 from the parental sod1
strain
was found to encode the full-length protein of 657 amino acids.
Alignment of the sequence of Ssq1p to the crystal structure of the
bacterial hsp70, DnaK (32), reveals that these mutations occur within a
-helical subdomain of the peptide-binding region. This subdomain
does not make contacts with bound peptide, but it has been shown to
affect polypeptide binding affinity (33) and to mediate interactions
with regulatory proteins (34) in mammalian hsc70. Yeast strains
containing a ssq1
null mutation exhibit negligible growth
at 30 °C (31), whereas each of the seo1 mutants are able
to grow at this temperature. This suggests that truncation of 45-70
residues from the C terminus of Ssq1p does not fully inactivate the
protein, but rather "cripples" it sufficiently to suppress
oxidative damage in sod1
mutants.

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Fig. 2.
ssq1 mutations found in the seo1
complementation group. The 3'-end of the coding region and
translation of SSQ1 is shown. Base and amino acid
substitutions found in the mutant alleles ssq1-1,
ssq1-2, and ssq1-3 are indicted below the wild
type sequence. Numbers on the left side indicate
amino acid position.
sod1
strain. As seen in Fig.
3, loss of Yfh1p function does not mimic
a ssq1 mutation, as a yfh1
allele fails to
suppress the aerobic methionine auxotrophy of sod1
strains. Therefore the suppression of sod1
by
ssq1 mutations cannot be simply explained by a defect in
Yfh1p.

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Fig. 3.
Effects of a yfh1 versus
ssq1 mutations on the aerobic methionine auxotrophy
of a sod1
strain. The indicated yeast strains were
tested for methionine auxotrophy by plating 5 × 105
or 1 × 105 cells in a 10-µl solution onto synthetic
dextrose medium supplemented with lysine but lacking methionine. Growth
at 30 °C proceeded for 3 days either in air (+oxygen) or
in an oxygen-depleted culture jar (
oxygen). Strains
utilized are all derived from KS105 (sod1
) and harbor
either the designated mutant alleles of SSQ1 or a null
mutation in YFH1, as indicated.

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Fig. 4.
The S. cerevisiae Jac1 protein
and jac1-1 mutant. A, the predicted amino
acid sequence of S. cerevisiae Jac1p is aligned with the
E. coli hscB gene product, Hsc20. Bold faced
numbers designate amino acid position. Amino acid identities are
indicated by asterisks; similarities are marked by a
dot. The arrow points to Asp-32, deleted in the
jac1-1 mutant. A potential mitochondrial leader sequence is
marked by
(hydrophobic), + (acidic), and
(hydroxylated)
residues. B, comparison of wild type (parental strain KS107)
and mutated (seo2-1 derivative) JAC1 alleles
surrounding the triplet deletion mutation (blocked). C,
tetrad analysis of a JAC1/jac1
heterozygous diploid: each
panel shows the growth patterns of four representative tetrads
resulting from sporulation of a JAC1/jac1
heterozygous
diploid. Circles on the left indicate placement
of each of the four spores following dissection of a tetrad. Spore
growth proceeded for 3 days at the indicated temperature. Viable spores
from a large number of tetrads were plated onto medium lacking uracil
and all were found to be auxotrophic for uracil.
0 diploid harboring one wild type
and one jac1
::URA3 allele was induced to
sporulate, and tetrads were assayed for growth at 23, 30, and 37 °C.
Spore viability segregated 2:2 at all three temperatures (Fig.
4C), and all viable spores were auxotrophic for uracil (not
shown). Thus, JAC1 is essential for S. cerevisiae growth, and the triplet deletion mutation is presumed to suppress sod1
through partial disruption of Jac1p function.

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Fig. 5.
The S. cerevisiae Nfs1 protein
and nfs1-1 mutant. The predicted amino acid sequence
of the S. cerevisiae Nfs1p is aligned with the homologous
protein (IscS) from E. coli. The Ala-308 to Thr
mutation identified in the single allele of the seo4
complementation group is identified by an arrow. A potential
leader sequence for mitochondrial targeting is denoted as described in
legend to Fig. 4A.
2 (3, 50), we first tested whether the sod1
mutation present in the seo strains had any effect on
aconitase activity. As shown in Fig. 6,
sod1
strains had roughly 50% of the aconitase activity
of the corresponding wild type strain; a similar effect was produced by
a sod2
mutation which deletes the mitochondrial manganese
Sod2p. These results are consistent with what has been reported for
SOD-deficient E. coli cells (3). To eliminate effects of SOD
deficiency, we re-introduced the yeast SOD1 gene into the
seo mutants by transformation with a SOD1 CEN
plasmid. Fig. 6 shows that the sod1
strain harboring this
episomal copy of SOD1 exhibits wild type levels of aconitase
activity. In contrast, each of the seo mutants carrying the
SOD1 CEN plasmid to compensate for the sod1
mutation exhibits greatly diminished rates of aconitase activity
suggestive of a possible defect in Fe/S cluster assembly.

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Fig. 6.
Aconitase activity in seo mutant
suppressor strains. Measurements of aconitase activity were
obtained in crude extracts prepared from the indicated strains. Strains
utilized: wt, 1783 (wild type); sod1, KS105 (1783 sod1::TRP1); sod2, JS002 (1783 sod2::URA3); seo1-6, KS105 suppressors
of sod1
(seo1, ssq1-1; seo2,
jac1-1; seo4, nfs1-1). pSOD1, strains transformed
with a SOD1 CEN plasmid. 1 unit of enzyme activity is
equivalent to 1 nmol of cis-aconitate transformed/min/mg of protein.
The results shown represent the average of 4-8 independent samples;
maximal ranges observed are shown by error bars.

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Fig. 7.
Succinate dehydrogenase activity in seo
mutant suppressor strains. Submitochondrial particles
prepared from the indicated strains were assayed for succinate
dehydrogenase activity by monitoring phenazine methosulfate-coupled
reduction of dichlorophenol indophenol. Strains utilized: parent, KS105
(1783 sod1::TRP1); seo1-6, KS105 suppressors of
sod1
(seo1, ssq1-1; seo2, jac1-1;
seo4, nfs1-1); all strains were transformed with a
SOD1 CEN plasmid. The results shown represent the averages
of two to four individual samples; maximal ranges observed are shown by
error bars.
![]()
DISCUSSION
Top
Abstract
Introduction
Procedures
Results
Discussion
References
mutants. In earlier studies, we
identified bsd suppressors of sod1
that act at
the antioxidant level to combat toxicity from both endogenous and
environmental sources of free radicals (28, 52). In contrast, the
seo mutations described here show no general antioxidant
behavior in that they fail to ameliorate toxicity from environmental
oxidants such as paraquat. Rather, the seo mutants appear to
act at the pro-oxidant level to dampen one or more endogenous source of
oxidative damage.
mutants? Three possibilities can be considered that are in agreement with available results. In one,
decreased formation of Fe/S proteins of the respiratory chain is
predicted to diminish O
2 production. In S. cerevisiae, succinate dehydrogenase (complex II) and the Rieske
protein of complex III comprise the respiratory chain Fe/S
centers.6 During respiration,
succinate dehydrogenase and complex III activities affect steady state
levels of ubisemiquinone, the primary site of reactive oxygen formation
(61, 62). Deficiencies in succinate dehydrogenase and/or the Rieske
protein, by decreasing electron transfer rates, may thus decrease
O
2 formation. Consistent with a decrease in electron transfer,
all of our seo mutants exhibit diminished respiration rates.
There is evidence that a fraction of SOD1 localizes to the
intermembrane space of the mitochondria (12), and this enzyme may
therefore help protect against O
2 formed by the respiratory
chain as previously suggested by Valentine and co-workers (21). A
second possibility is that impairment of Fe/S cluster assembly in
sod1
mutants could reduce iron-related toxicity resulting
from the oxidation of labile Fe/S centers. Keyer and Imlay (9) have
shown that cell damage in SOD-deficient E. coli results from
oxidation of labile [4Fe-4S] clusters of dehydratase enzymes and
subsequent release of free iron, and this mobilization of iron causes
oxidative damage through increased hydroxyl radical formation (8).
Yeast mitochondria harbor at least three enzymes predicted to contain
labile [4Fe-4S] clusters, including two aconitase isoforms (Ref. 63
and accession number PO7263) and homoaconitase (64). Elevated levels of
O
2 in sod1
mutants may oxidize these clusters,
liberating iron that is then free to participate in Fenton chemistry
either in the mitochondria or at other sites in the cell. Consistent
with a role for SOD1 in protecting against the oxidation of
mitochondrial [4Fe-4S] clusters, we observed a decrease in aconitase
activity in sod1
mutants. As a third possibility, defects
in mitochondrial Fe/S cluster assembly could trigger a signaling
pathway leading to changes in distribution of cytosolic and
mitochondrial iron. Recent work by Dancis and colleagues (35) has shown
that mutations in Ssq1 lead to hyperaccumulation of iron in
mitochondria and an induction of high affinity iron uptake at the cell
surface. This change in iron flux may help repair the labile Fe/S
clusters damaged by oxidation in sod1
mutants. Whether
the mechanism involves direct leakage of respiratory superoxide or
changes in iron homeostasis, these studies have established an
important link between the status of Fe/S clusters in the mitochondria
and Cu/Zn SOD1.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS |
|---|
We thank D. R. Dean for providing DNA sequence data on the iscSUA-hscBA-fdx gene cluster in A. vinelandii prior to publication. We also thank members of the Trush laboratory for assistance with oxygen consumption measurements and B. Trumpower and J. Imlay for helpful discussions.
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FOOTNOTES |
|---|
* This work was supported in part by the Johns Hopkins University National Institute of Environmental Health Science Center and National Institutes of Health Grants GM50016 (to V. C. C.) and GM54624 (to L. E. V.).The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. The article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.
§ Recipient of National Institutes of Health Training Grant ES07141.
¶ Supported by funding through the March of Dimes. Current address: Dept. of Biochemistry, Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD.
** To whom correspondence should be addressed: Johns Hopkins University, 615 N. Wolfe St., Rm. 7032, Baltimore, MD 21205. Tel.: 410-955-3029; Fax: 410-955-0116; E-mail: vculotta{at}jhsph.edu.
The abbreviations used are: SOD, superoxide dismutase; PCR, polymerase chain reaction.
2 The SSQ1 gene was originally referred to as SSH1 by Schilke et al. (31) but has been renamed due to prior use of the SSH1 name. Knight et al. (35) have also referred to the SSQ1 gene as SSC2.
3 Gonococcal Genome Sequencing Project (www.genome.ou.edu).
4 Pseudomonas Genome Project (www.pseudomonas.com).
5 D. R. Dean, personal communications.
6 Unlike mammalian systems, the NADH dehydrogenase of S. cerevisiae lacks an Fe/S center (65).
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REFERENCES |
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