There are six enzymatic steps in the de novo biosynthesis of uridine monophosphate (UMP). In yeast, six structural genes (ura2, ura4, ura1, ura5, ura10, and ura3) and one regulatory gene (PPR1) are involved in this metabolic pathway. Gene ura2 codes for a multifunctional protein that carries the first two enzymatic activities of the pathway, i.e., carbamylphosphate synthetase (CPSase) and aspartate transcarbamylase (ATCase). Gene ura2 has been cloned and sequenced, revealing the presence of three open reading frames, one of which codes for the multifunctional protein, a polypeptide of 2212 amino acids, with a mRNA of 7 +/- 0.3 kilobases. Expression of gene ura2 is regulated at the transcriptional level. As I indicate here, it could also be controlled at the posttranscriptional level since all the consensus sequences for a 1.2-kilobases intron are present in the coding sequence of the open reading frame. The deducted amino acid sequence has allowed the identification of four domains. Starting from the amino terminus of the protein, these are glutamine amido transferase, CPSase, a domain that resembles dihydroorotase (DHOase-like) but does not have DHOase activity, and ATCase. There are also two sites of interest that match known concensus phosphorylation sites; one is located in the distal part of the CPSase domain, the other in the connector region between DHOase-like and ATCase domains. The protein has been purified as a multienzyme aggregate and as a multifunctional protein. The latter form, when isolated from a protease B deficient strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, contained mostly polypeptide chains of 220 kilodaltons. Work is currently in progress to determine the site(s) of phosphorylation of this protein in vitro. ATCase activity of both wild-type and protease-deficient strains has been found to be localized in the nucleus. Channeling of carbamyl phosphate, the first intermediate in the pathway, has been demonstrated both in vitro and in permeabilized cells. The other genes of UMP biosynthesis, except for ura5, are regulated by induction of their transcription by the combined action of the product of the ppr1 gene and the inducer, dihydroorotate. Dihydroorotate dehydrogenase activity was found in the cytoplasm. Two isoenzymes of orotate phosphoribosyl transferase have been found, coded for by ura5 and ura10. The products of genes ura10 and ura3 are proposed to participate in the channeling of orotidine monophosphate. The discussion considers the problem posed by the isolation of both multienzyme complexes and multifunctional proteins resulting from the expression of the same cluster genes.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the first two reactions of pyrimidine biosynthesis are catalyzed by the multifunctional protein Ura2 carrying both carbamyl-phosphate synthetase (CPSase) and aspartate transcarbamylase (ATCase) enzyme activities. In order to study how UTP regulates both of these activities mutant strains were constructed: one strain which expressed the Ura2 protein fused to the green fluorescent protein, and two strains expressed truncated Ura2 proteins. These strains exhibited a phenotype associated with a modified regulation of the pyrimidine pathway. Results presented in this report provide arguments in favor of a single UTP binding site located on the CPSase domain, and support a model in which ATCase activity is inhibited by UTP only when it can interact with the CPSase domain.z 1998 Federation of European Biochemical Societies.
The first two steps of de novo pyrimidine synthesis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae are catalyzed by a multifunctional protein, coded by the URA2 gene and which has the carbamoyl‐phosphate (CPSase) synthetase and aspartate transcarbamylase (ATCase) activities. The native enzyme purified from protease‐B‐deficient URA2‐transformed cells, was phosphorylated in vitro using catalytic subunits of pure cAMP‐dependent protein kinase. After electrophoresis under denaturing conditions, a single 240‐kDa species was found to be phosphorylated. Trypsin digestion of this species gave a single, very acidic phosphopeptide upon isoelectric focussing. Purification by HPLC followed by amino acid sequencing of this peptide, showed a phosphoserine at the expected consensus sequence Arg‐Arg‐Phe‐Ser. Knowledge of the URA2 gene sequence allowed the site to be located in the peptide link between dihydroorotase‐like and ATCase domains. Such a location may explain why phosphorylation of the URA2 protein changed neither CPSase and ATCase activities nor their sensitivity to UTP, their common specific inhibitor.
The URA2 locus codes for a multifunctional enzyme complex carrying aspartate transcarbamylase (ATCase) and carbamyly phosphate synthetase (CPSase) activities. Three different types of ura2 mutants were tested in meiotic and mitotic recombination experiments: ura2A mutants devoid of ATCase activity, ura2C mutants devoid of CPSase activity and ura2B mutants devoid of both activities. All the ura2A mutations were found to be clustered at one end of the URA2 locus, called zone A, while the ura2C mutations were localized in a region at the other end, called zone C. All but two ura2B mutations (most of them suppressible) were distributed throughout zone C; the two ura2B exceptions which are small deletions, mapped in zone A. On the meiotic as well as on the mitotic map an intermediary or dead-space zone is located between zones A and C. No mutation has yet been found to map in this zone. The relative lengths of the three zones A, intermediary and C are 1 :2-3 :3-4, respectively. These data are consistent with the hypothesis that the URA2 locus consisting of at least two cistrons: C (CPSase) and A (ATCase), is transcribed into a single polycistronic message in the direction C to A. However, alternative hypotheses in reference to Peterson and MacLaughlin's observations (1973) are discussed.
When a uracil-auxotrophic yeast strain is grown under uracil-limiting conditions, the aspartate transcarbamylase activity found in crude extracts shows a variation in sensitivity to feedback inhibition by uridine 5'-triphosphate. In this study we correlated this variation with changes in the molecular form of the carbamyl phosphate synthetase-uracil-aspartate transcarbamylase complex. Carbamyl phosphate synthetase-uracil (molecular weight, 240,000) and uridine 5'-triphosphate-insensitive aspartate transcarbamylase (molecular weight, 140,000) were present separately in extracts from cells collected in the early exponential phase; this was in contrast to the presence of a single high-molecular-weight form (molecular weight, about 900,000) bearing both activities in extracts from stationary-phase cells. The lack of sensitivity to uridine 5'-triphosphate by aspartate transcarbamylase was delayed by adding uridine 5'-triphosphate before cell disruption and was prevented completely by adding phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride. Thus, this event was attributed to a transient serine protease activity detected only in early exponential-phase cell extracts. However, even in the presence of phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride, a sucrose density gradient analysis in the absence of uridine 5'-triphosphate revealed a change in the aggregation state of the complex which might have occurred in vivo. None of these events was observed in extracts from cells that lacked protease B activity (strain HP232-2B).
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