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Bax is a pro-apoptotic member of the Bcl-2 family of proteins involved in the regulation of genetically programmed cell death in mammalian cells. It has been shown that heterologous expression of Bax in several yeast species, such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Schizosaccharomyces pombe and Pichia pastoris, also induces cell death. In this study we investigated the effects of Bax expression in the pathogenic yeast Candida albicans. Cell death inducing expression of Bax required a synthetic BAX gene that was codon-optimized for expression in Candida albicans. Expression of this BAX gene resulted in growth inhibition and cell death. By fusing Bax with the yeast enhanced green fluorescent protein of Aequoria victoria, the cell death-inducing effect of Bax was increased due to reduced proteolytic degradation of Bax. Using this fusion protein we showed that, upon expression in C. albicans, Bax co-localizes with the mitochondria. Furthermore, we showed for the first time that expression of Bax in yeast causes the mitochondria, which are normally distributed throughout the cell, to cluster in the perinuclear region.

The yeast transcriptional response to murine Bax expression was compared with the changes induced by H(2)O(2) treatment via microarray technology. Although most of the Bax-responsive genes were also triggered by H(2)O(2) treatment, OYE3, ICY2, MLS1 and BTN2 were validated to have a Bax-specific transcriptional response not shared with the oxidative stress trigger. In knockout experiments, only deletion of OYE3, coding for yeast Old yellow enzyme, attenuated the rate of Bax-induced growth arrest, cell death and NADPH decrease. Lipid peroxidation was completely absent in DeltaOYE3 expressing Bax. However, the absence of OYE3 sensitized yeast cells to H(2)O(2)-induced cell death, and increased the rate of NADPH decrease and lipid peroxidation. Our results clearly indicate that OYE3 interferes with Bax- and H(2)O(2)-induced lipid peroxidation and cell death in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.