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J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 280, Issue 26, 25127-25133, July 1, 2005
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¶
From the
Department of Biotechnology, Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University, 2-1 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan and the
Science of Biological Supramolecular Systems, Graduate School of Integrated Science, Yokohama City University, 1-7-29 Suehirocho, Tsurumi, Yokohama 231-0045, Japan
Received for publication, December 27, 2004 , and in revised form, March 21, 2005.
| ABSTRACT |
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plc1,
arg82, and
kcs1 deletion strains, but not the
ipk1 deletion strain, had significantly reduced intracellular polyphosphate levels, suggesting that enzymes involved in inositol pyrophosphate synthesis are also required for polyphosphate accumulation. | INTRODUCTION |
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A recent study has shown that PHO5 expression is regulated by intracellular phosphate levels, especially intracellular orthophosphate levels, but not by extracellular phosphate levels (5). Moreover, both inositol polyphosphates and inositol pyrophosphates have been reported to play a role in controlling PHO5 expression, but in different ways. Inositol tetrakisphosphate (IP4) and inositol pentakisphosphate (IP5) are required for modulating the ability of the SWI/SNF and INO80 chromatin-remodeling complexes to induce PHO5 expression under low phosphate conditions (13), whereas inositol pyrophosphates are necessary to maintain the repression of PHO5 expression under high phosphate conditions (14).
In an effort to understand the mechanism underlying phosphate sensing and signal transduction upstream of the Pho81p-Pho80p-Pho85p complex, we analyzed the Research Genetics collection of yeast deletion mutants. Here, we report that the additional factors Plc1p, Arg82p, Kcs1p, and Adk1p are involved in regulating the PHO pathway upstream of Pho81p. We provide evidence that Plc1p, Arg82p, Kcs1p, and Adk1p negatively regulate the PHO pathway independently of the intracellular orthophosphate levels, raising the possibility that diphosphoinositol tetrakisphosphate (PP-IP4) and/or bisdiphosphoinositol triphosphate ((PP)2-IP3) is important for phosphate regulation. In addition, we show that Plc1p, Arg82p, and Kcs1p are also required for the accumulation of polyphosphate.
| EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES |
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) background. The isogenic strain BY4741 (MATa) was used for genetic analysis. The double and triple disruption strains used in this study as well as complete genotype descriptions are listed in Table I. Disruptions of PHO3 in strains BY4741 and BY4742 were generated by a previously described PCR-mediated gene disruption method (16) using Candida glabrata HIS3 or LEU2, respectively, as a template, resulting in the deletion of the entire open reading frame. Gene disruptions were verified by colony PCR. The other double and triple disruptants were generated by standard genetic crossing, sporulation, and tetrad dissection (17). Nutrient (yeast extract-peptone-dextrose-adenine (YPDA)), yeast nitrogen base without amino acids and glucose added, with appropriate nutrients (17), and synthetic high and low phosphate (containing 11 mM and 0.22 mM Pi, respectively) media were prepared as described previously (18).
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Screening for Phosphate Signaling-defective Deletion MutantsCells were transferred from thawed 96-well microtiter plate stocks to YPD medium plates supplemented with 200 mg/liter Geneticin in 96 place grids using a TK-CP96 96-pin replicator (Tokken Inc.). After incubation at 30 °C for 2 days, strains were stamped onto high and low phosphate medium plates and grown at 30 °C for an additional 2 days. The APase activity of the yeast strains was determined by staining colonies using
-naphthyl phosphate as a phosphatase substrate as described previously (19).
Acid Phosphatase Assay in Cell SuspensionCells were precultured to log phase in synthetic high phosphate medium at 30 °C. Log-phase cultures were inoculated into a specified medium to give an A600 of 0.1 and cultivated with shaking at 30 °C until an A600 of 1.0 was reached. The APase activity was measured by determining the amount of p-nitrophenyl phosphate cleaved during a 10-min incubation at 35 °C. Cleavage was determined by monitoring the absorbance at 420 nm, and the APase activity was calculated as described previously (19).
RNA Purification and Northern Blot AnalysisExtraction of total RNA and Northern blot analysis were performed as described previously (17). Cells were precultivated in synthetic high phosphate medium to log phase at 30 °C. Log-phase cultures were inoculated into a specified medium to give an A600 of 0.1 and shaken at 30 °C until an A600 of 1.0 was reached. Total RNA was extracted, and 15 µg of RNA was loaded per lane. DNA fragments containing the PHO5 open reading frame (+1 to +1404) synthesized by PCR and the 1.0-kb HindIII-XhoI fragment carrying ACT1 prepared from pYA301 (22) were labeled using a random primer DNA labeling kit (Version 2, Takara) with [
-32P]dCTP. Prehybridization, hybridization, and detection were carried out by standard methods.
31P NMR SpectroscopyYeast strains grown to log phase in synthetic high phosphate medium were inoculated into 100 ml of a specified medium to give an A600 of 0.1 and then cultivated at 30 °C until an A600 of 1.0 was reached. The cells were harvested by centrifugation, and excess medium was removed to obtain a cell suspension volume of 0.5 ml. The intracellular phosphate concentration in yeast cells was measured by 31P NMR spectroscopy as described previously (5). 31P NMR spectra were obtained at 202.496 MHz using a Bruker DRX-500 NMR spectrometer at 25 °C. The spectral width was 10 kHz. All spectra were generated from a collection of 512 scans, each with a 0.8-s acquisition time and 1-s delay. Methylene diphosphonate was used as an internal reference with no apparent distortion of yeast metabolism. The intracellular phosphate concentration was estimated on the basis of the integrated area of the resonance relative to methylene diphosphate. A haploid cell volume of 70 µm3 (23) and a cell density of 1.85 x 107 cells/ml at an A600 of 1 were assumed. Polyphosphate concentration is given in terms of phosphate residues.
| RESULTS |
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The
plc1,
arg82,
kcs1, and
adk1 strains all exhibited the constitutive APase phenotype. Moreover, it should be noted that the APase activities of the
plc1,
arg82, and
adk1 mutants were higher under the low phosphate conditions than under the high phosphate conditions, whereas the APase activity of the
kcs1 mutant was almost the same as that in the
pho80 strain under both high and low phosphate conditions (Fig. 1B). Interestingly, among the genes known to be involved in the synthesis of soluble inositol polyphosphate, deletion of only the IPK1 gene, which encodes IP5 kinase, did not result in the constitutive APase phenotype (Fig. 1, A and B). We therefore focused the following studies on the role of Plc1p, Arg82p, Kcs1p, and Adk1p in regulating the PHO pathway.
Plc1p, Arg82p, Kcs1p, and Adk1p Are Required for the Regulation of PHO5 ExpressionIn S. cerevisiae, there are two types of APase: one is a constitutive APase encoded by PHO3, and the other is an rAPase encoded by PHO5 and its homologs PHO11 and PHO12 (19, 30). Expression of rAPase is controlled by the PHO pathway in response to intracellular phosphate concentrations (2-5). To investigate whether Plc1p, Arg82p, Kcs1p, and Adk1p function as negative regulators in the PHO pathway, we knocked out the PHO3 gene in the
plc1,
arg82,
kcs1, and
adk1 strains and examined the resulting double disruptants for rAPase activity. We found that deletion of PHO3 in the
plc1,
arg82,
kcs1, and
adk1 strains did not affect the increased APase activity in these mutants (Fig. 1B).
To determine whether the increased rAPase activity in these disruptants is a consequence of an increase in transcription of the PHO5 gene, we examined PHO5 transcript levels in the
plc1
pho3,
arg82
pho3,
kcs1
pho3, and
adk1
pho3 strains by Northern blot analysis. We found that the PHO5 transcript levels in these double disruptants were increased even under the high phosphate conditions compared with the wild-type strain (
pho3) and correlated with the levels of rAPase activity (Fig. 1C), indicating that Plc1p, Arg82p, Kcs1p, and Adk1p are all involved in negative regulation at the level of PHO5 transcription. It should be noted that the PHO5 transcript levels in the
adk1
pho3 strain, but not in the other double disruptants, was higher under the low phosphate conditions than under the high phosphate conditions, indicating considerable residual regulation by the phosphate concentration in this strain. These observations suggest that Adk1p is only indirectly involved in regulating the PHO pathway. We also examined PHO5 transcription in the
ipk1
pho3 strain and found that PHO5 transcription in this strain, which differed from that in the
plc1
pho3,
arg82
pho3, and
kcs1
pho3 strains, was induced only under the low phosphate conditions, as in the wild-type strain (
pho3) (Fig. 1, B and C).
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pho81 and
plc1
pho3,
arg82
pho3,
kcs1
pho3, and
adk1
pho3 and examined them for expression of PHO5 by the rAPase assay. The rAPase activity in each of the triple disruptants was diminished, similar to what was observed in the
pho81
pho3 strain (Fig. 2), indicating that pho81 is epistatic to each of the mutants. These results suggest that Plc1p, Arg82p, Kcs1p, and Adk1p function as negative regulators of the PHO pathway upstream of Pho81p.
Plc1p, Arg82p, Kcs1p, and Adk1p Regulate the PHO Pathway Independently of the Intracellular Orthophosphate ConcentrationPrevious studies demonstrated that PHO5 expression is closely correlated with intracellular orthophosphate concentrations (5, 31). To examine whether the induction of PHO5 expression in the
plc1
pho3,
arg82
pho3,
kcs1
pho3, and
adk1
pho3 strains under the high phosphate conditions was due to a reduction in intracellular orthophosphate, we measured the intracellular orthophosphate concentration in these double disruptants by in vivo 31P NMR spectroscopy. Surprisingly, we found that, under the high phosphate conditions, the
plc1
pho3 and
arg82
pho3 strains had significantly reduced intracellular polyphosphate levels, viz. 14 and 24%, respectively, of the level in the wild-type strain (
pho3). Moreover, intracellular polyphosphate was reduced to an undetectable level in the
kcs1
pho3 strain.
In contrast to the polyphosphate levels, intracellular orthophosphate levels in these double disruptants were
1.6-fold higher than that in the wild-type strain (Fig. 3A). These observations indicate that, despite the increase in intracellular orthophosphate levels, expression of PHO5 in the
plc1
pho3,
arg82
pho3, and
kcs1
pho3 strains is constitutive; this differs from its expression in the wild-type strain, where it is repressed (Fig. 1B). Therefore, these findings further suggest that Plc1p, Arg82p, and Kcs1p regulate the PHO pathway independently of intracellular orthophosphate levels.
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adk1
pho3 strain were similar to those in the wild-type strain (Fig. 3B). Previous studies showed that the constitutive expression of PHO5 in the
pho84 strain, a disruptant for a high affinity phosphate transporter, could be suppressed by increasing intracellular orthophosphate levels through the deletion of PHM3, PHM4, or both PHM1 and PHM2 (5, 31). We therefore knocked out PHM3 in the
adk1
pho3 strain and found that the resulting triple mutant showed defects in accumulating intracellular polyphosphate and thus contained higher levels of intracellular orthophosphate compared with the wild-type strain (Fig. 3B). Under the high phosphate conditions, expression of PHO5 was increased in the
adk1
pho3
phm3 strain, as it was in the
adk1
pho3 strain (Fig. 3C), suggesting that, in addition to enzymes involved in inositol pyrophosphate synthesis, Adk1p is involved in regulating PHO5 expression in an orthophosphate-independent manner.
Finally, we confirmed that, as expected, deletion of the PHM3 gene in the
plc1
pho3,
arg82
pho3, and
kcs1
pho3 double disruptants diminished intracellular polyphosphate levels, but had little effect on intracellular orthophosphate levels; in addition, the constitutive PHO5 expression phenotype of the double disruptants was not affected by the deletion of PHM3 (data not shown).
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pho3) under the control of the ADH1 promoter, a highly expressed constitutive promoter. We found that the rAPase activity in the wild-type strain overexpressing KCS1 grown in low phosphate medium was decreased to approximately one-third of that in the wild-type strain transformed with empty vector (Fig. 4). In contrast to KCS1, overexpression of PLC1, ARG82, and IPK1 in the wild-type strain did not affect rAPase activity (Fig. 4), suggesting that overexpression of these genes is not sufficient to repress PHO5 expression. Based on these observations, it is possible that the products of these enzymes, but not the enzymes them-selves, may play a role in regulating the PHO pathway. Because overexpression of KCS1 is supposed to result in enhanced conversion of IP5 to PP-IP4 and (PP)2-IP3, leading to overproduction of PP-IP4 and (PP)2-IP3, we propose that PP-IP4 and/or (PP)2-IP3 may be essential for the regulation of the PHO pathway.
Previous studies have shown that overexpression of KCS1 in the
arg82 strain rescues the repression of some phosphate-responsive genes (PHO11 and VTC3) (14), probably because it rescues the synthesis of higher inositol polyphosphates such as PP-IP4 and PP-IP5 (32). To investigate whether overexpression of a gene encoding an enzyme involved in the synthesis of inositol polyphosphates could repress PHO5 expression in the disruptants for the other enzymes, we overexpressed PLC1, ARG82, KCS1, and IPK1 individually in the
plc1
pho3,
arg82
pho3, and
kcs1
pho3 strains and examined the resulting strains for rAPase activity. We found that overexpression of PLC1, ARG82, or KCS1 could restore the repression of PHO5 in the
plc1
pho3,
arg82
pho3, and
kcs1
pho3 strains, respectively, but not in the other double disruptants. However, overexpression of IPK1 did not repress PHO5 expression in any of the double disruptants (data not shown). These results suggest that a defect in the kinase activity of one inositol-polyphosphate kinase cannot be restored by overexpressing one of the other inositol-polyphosphate kinases to repress PHO5 expression.
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pho3) and examined the rAPase activity. We found that, in contrast to KCS1, overexpression of ADK1 could not suppress PHO5 expression under phosphate starvation conditions (Fig. 4), suggesting that even an excessive amount of Adk1p is not effective at repressing PHO5 expression. To explore the relationship between Adk1p and the production of PP-IP4 and/or (PP)2-IP3 in regulating the PHO pathway, we overexpressed PLC1, ARG82, KCS, and IPK1 as well as ADK1 in the
adk1
pho3 strain to examine whether the defect in phosphate signaling in this strain could be rescued by overexpressing enzymes involved in the synthesis of inositol polyphosphates such as inositol-polyphosphate kinase. We found that overexpression of ADK1, but not of PLC1, ARG82, KCS1, or IPK1, suppressed expression of PHO5 in the
adk1
pho3 strain (data not shown), suggesting that Adk1p regulates the PHO pathway, but not via modulation of the synthesis of PP-IP4 and/or (PP)2-IP3.
Inositol Pyrophosphate Is Involved in Regulating Polyphosphate AccumulationBecause the
plc1
pho3,
arg82
pho3, and
kcs1
pho3 strains, which are deficient in the production of all inositol pyrophosphates (PP-IP4, (PP)2-IP3, PP-IP5, and (PP)2-IP4), are defective in polyphosphate accumulation, we considered that inositol pyrophosphates might be essential for synthesizing polyphosphate. To determine whether PP-IP4 and (PP)2-IP3 or PP-IP5 and (PP)2-IP4 are required for polyphosphate accumulation, we measured intracellular polyphosphate levels in the
ipk1
pho3 strain, which is impaired only in the production of PP-IP5 and (PP)2-IP4. We found that, in contrast to the other strains, the
ipk1
pho3 strain accumulated intracellular polyphosphate to a level similar to that accumulated by the wild-type strain (
pho3) (Fig. 3A).
Previous work has shown that polyphosphate accumulation is influenced by vacuolar H+-ATPase (V-ATPase) activity (33, 34), but that this activity is not strictly essential (35). Among the known mutants that are defective in polyphosphate accumulation, the vma4 mutant strain, which has a mutation in a subunit of V-ATPase, is completely deficient in V-ATPase activity (34), whereas the
phm3 and
phm4 strains retain V-ATPase activity (35). Mutants deficient in V-ATPase activity are characteristically sensitive to media containing 60 mM CaCl2 at pH 7.5 (34). To determine whether the defect in polyphosphate accumulation in the
plc1,
arg82, and
kcs1 strains is a consequence of a defect in V-ATPase activity, we tested these disruptants for growth in the presence of CaCl2 at pH 7.5. The
arg82 and
kcs1 strains grew normally on YPD medium (pH 7.5) supplemented with 60 mM CaCl2, whereas the
plc1 strain did not grow under these conditions (Fig. 5). These results suggest that the
arg82 and
kcs1 strains retain V-ATPase activity, whereas the
plc1 strain does not; thus, PP-IP4 and/or (PP)2-IP3 may not influence polyphosphate accumulation through the regulation of V-ATPase activity, whereas IP3 may be necessary for V-ATPase activity.
| DISCUSSION |
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Inositol polyphosphates are required for numerous cellular processes. IP3 is a critical second messenger needed for regulating the release of Ca2+ from intracellular stores in animal cells (36, 37). In plants, IP6 may play a role both as an antioxidant (38) and as a phosphate store (39). In animal cells, IP6 interacts with several proteins that regulate endocytosis (40-43), synaptic vesicle trafficking (44-46), and receptor desensitization (47). In yeast, IP6 is required for the efficient export of mRNA from the nucleus (48, 49). Inositol pyrophosphates regulate endocytic trafficking (50) and are required for vacuole biogenesis (28) and cell wall integrity and resistance to salt stress (32). Recently, inositol pyrophosphates have been reported to be essential for the expression of both genes regulated by the quality of the nitrogen source and phosphate-responsive genes (14). Our present results provide evidence that PP-IP4 and/or (PP)2-IP3, but not PP-IP5 or (PP)2-IP4, may be involved in PHO5 expression independently of intracellular orthophosphate levels, raising the intriguing possibility that these molecules may function as phosphate signals. It has been shown recently that IP4 and IP5, but not IP6 or pyrophosphates, are required for regulating the SWI/SNF and INO80 chromatin-remodeling complexes to induce the transcription of PHO5 (13). Thus, the inositol polyphosphates IP4 and IP5 and the pyrophosphates PP-IP4 and/or (PP)2-IP3 may regulate the expression of PHO5 at different stages in the pathway and in opposite ways.
If PP-IP4 and/or (PP)2-IP3 is an authentic phosphate signaling molecule, then what is the phosphate sensor(s) that could directly sense the level of this molecule? Deletion of the genes encoding phosphate sensors is thought to lead to a complete defect in the phosphate signal transduction that regulates the expression of phosphate-responsive genes such as PHO5; thus, disruptants of phosphate sensors should exhibit a phenotype of either completely constitutive or completely uninducible PHO5 expression. Our systematic screening for additional components of the PHO pathway identified ADK1, which encodes an adenylate kinase, in addition to the genes involved in inositol pyrophosphates synthesis (Fig. 1, B and C). Because PHO5 expression in the
adk1 strain was slightly increased under the high phosphate conditions and significantly induced during phosphate starvation (Fig. 1C), we do not favor the idea that Adk1p is a phosphate sensor. Because we did not identify any genes encoding phosphate sensors in our screening of single deletion mutants in nonessential genes, it seems possible that phosphate sensors may be encoded by essential genes or, alternatively, that there might be multiple phosphate sensors encoded by nonessential genes that have a redundant function in phosphate sensing.
Because Adk1p functions in the interconversion of AMP and ATP to two ADP molecules, it is possible that Adk1p may influence PHO5 expression through its function in maintaining energy metabolism. However, disruptants of other genes involved in the homeostasis of energy, such as those encoding ATP synthase and the ADP/ATP transporter, were found to have normal PHO5 expression in our systematic screening; thus, Adk1p may not control the PHO pathway through the regulation of energy metabolism. It has recently been shown that ADO1, which encodes an adenosine kinase (51), negatively regulate PHO5 expression (52). Adenosine kinase catalyzes the phosphorylation of adenosine to AMP. Because inorganic phosphate is also essential for adenosine nucleotide metabolism, it is possible that the PHO pathway may be partially controlled by adenosine nucleotide metabolism. However, we did not notice that deletion of other genes involved in nucleotide metabolism such as YNK1, which encodes nucleoside-diphosphate kinase, did not affect PHO5 expression (data not shown). Because Adk1p has been found to be a member of a Pho85p-associated complex by systematic mass spectrometry (21), Adk1p may regulate the PHO pathway by modulating the kinase activity of the Pho80p-Pho85p complex.
Our study has also suggested that PP-IP4 and/or (PP)2-IP3 is required for polyphosphate accumulation in a manner that differs from its regulation through V-ATPase activity (Figs. 3A and 5). It is not clear, however, how PP-IP4 and/or (PP)2-IP3 regulates polyphosphate accumulation; it is possible that these inositol pyrophosphates may affect polyphosphate accumulation by regulating the activity of polyphosphate synthetase or the vacuolar phosphate transporter. By contrast, IP3 seems to be necessary for V-ATPase activity (Fig. 5), possibly by regulating the assembly or stability of the V-ATPase complex.
| FOOTNOTES |
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¶ To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel.: 81-6-6879-7420; Fax: 81-6-6879-7421; E-mail: harashima{at}bio.eng.osaka-u.ac.jp.
1 The abbreviations used are: rAPase, repressible acid phosphatase; IP4, inositol tetrakisphosphate; IP5, inositol pentakisphosphate; PP-IP4, diphosphoinositol tetrakisphosphate; (PP)2-IP3, bisdiphosphoinositol triphosphate; IP6, inositol hexakisphosphate; IP3, inositol trisphosphate; PP-IP5, diphosphoinositol pentakisphosphate; (PP)2-IP4 bisdiphosphoinositol tetrakisphosphate. ![]()
| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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| REFERENCES |
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