Heterologous expression implicates a GATA factor in regulation of nitrogen metabolic genes and ion homeostasis in the halotolerant yeast Debaryomyces hansenii.

ABSTRACT: The yeast Debaryomyces hansenii has a remarkable capacity to proliferate in salty and alkaline environments such as seawater. A screen for D. hansenii genes able to confer increased tolerance to high pH when overexpressed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae yielded a single gene, named here DhGZF3, encoding a putative negative GATA transcription factor related to S. cerevisiae Dal80 and Gzf3. Overexpression of this gene in wild-type S. cerevisiae increased caffeine and rapamycin tolerance, blocked growth in low glucose concentrations and nonfermentable carbon sources, and resulted in lithium- and sodium-sensitive cells. Sensitivity to salt could be attributed to a reduced cation efflux, most likely because of a decrease in expression of the ENA1 Na(+)-ATPase gene. Overexpression of DhGZF3 did not

SUBMITTER: Garcia-Salcedo R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1539131 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature