Carbon nanomaterials (CNMs), which include carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and their derivatives, have diverse technological and biomedical applications. The potential toxicity of CNMs to cells and tissues has become an important emerging question in nanotechnology. To assess the toxicity of CNTs and fullerenol C60(OH)24, we in the present work used the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, one of the simplest eukaryotic organisms that share fundamental aspects of eukaryotic cell biology. We found that treatment with CNMs, regardless of their physical shape, negatively affected the growth rates, end-point cell densities and doubling times of CNM-exposed yeast cells when compared to unexposed cells. To investigate potential mechanisms behind the CNMs-induced growth defects, we performed RNA-Seq dependent transcriptional analysis and constructed global gene expression profiles of fullerenol C60(OH)24- and CNT-treated cells. When compared to non-treated control cells, CNM-treated cells displayed differential expression of genes whose functions are implicated in membrane transporters and stress response, although differentially expressed genes were not consistent between CNT- and fullerenol C60(OH)24-treated groups, leading to our conclusion that CNMs could serve as environmental toxic factors to eukaryotic cells.
The dynamin-like protein, Vps1, is a GTPase involved in cargo sorting and membrane remodeling in multiple cellular trafficking pathways. Recently, Vps1 has been shown to genetically interact with ESCRT subunits. We tested the hypothesis that the functional connection of Vps1 with some of these subunits of ESCRT complexes occurs via a physical interaction. By utilizing the yeast two-hybrid system, we revealed that Vps1 physically interacts with the ESCRT-II subunits, Vps22 and Vps36, and the ESCRT-III subunit Vps24. We found that Vps1 and ESCRT-II components colocalize with Pep12, an endosomal marker. Additionally, loss of Vps1 or depletion of the GTPase activity of Vps1 results in a moderate defect in Cps1 targeting to the vacuole. Here, we discussed the potential implications of Vps1 and ESCRT interaction and their roles in the endosome-to-vacuole traffic. In summary, yeast dynamin interacts with ESCRT II and III complexes, and it functions in Cps1 trafficking toward the vacuole.
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