Morphological classification of the yeast vacuolar protein sorting mutants: evidence for a prevacuolar compartment in class E vps mutants.

The collection of vacuolar protein sorting mutants (vps mutants) in Saccharomyces cerevisiae comprises of 41 complementation groups. The vacuoles in these mutant strains were examined using immunofluorescence microscopy. Most of the vps mutants were found to possess vacuolar morphologies that differed significantly from wild-type vacuoles. Furthermore, mutants representing independent vps complementation groups were found to share aberrant morphological features. Six distinct classes of vacuolar morphology were observed. Mutants from eight vps complementation groups were defective both for vacuolar segregation from mother cells into developing buds and for acidification of the vacuole. Another group of mutants, represented by 13 complementation groups, accumulated a novel organelle distinct from the vacuole that contained a late-Golgi protein, active vacuolar H(+)-ATPase complex, and soluble vacuolar hydrolases. We suggest that this organelle may represent an exaggerated endosome-like compartment. None of the vps mutants appeared to mislocalize significant amounts of the vacuolar membrane protein alkaline phosphatase. Quantitative immunoprecipitations of the soluble vacuolar hydrolase carboxypeptidase Y (CPY) were performed to determine the extent of the sorting defect in each vps mutant. A good correlation between morphological phenotype and the extent of the CPY sorting defect was observed.

The VPS1 protein, a homolog of dynamin required for vacuolar protein sorting in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, is a GTPase with two functionally separable domains.

The product of the VPS1 gene, Vps1p, is required for the sorting of soluble vacuolar proteins in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We demonstrate here that Vps1p, which contains a consensus tripartite motif for guanine nucleotide binding, is capable of binding and hydrolyzing GTP. Vps1p is a member of a subfamily of large GTP-binding proteins whose members include the vertebrate Mx proteins, the yeast MGM1 protein, the Drosophila melanogaster shibire protein, and dynamin, a bovine brain protein that bundles microtubules in vitro. Disruption of microtubules did not affect the fidelity or kinetics of vacuolar protein sorting, indicating that Vps1p function is not dependent on microtubules. Based on mutational analyses, we propose a two-domain model for Vps1p function. When VPS1 was treated with hydroxylamine, half of all mutations isolated were found to be dominant negative with respect to vacuolar protein sorting. All of the dominant-negative mutations analyzed further mapped to the amino-terminal half of Vps1p and gave rise to full-length protein products. In contrast, recessive mutations gave rise to truncated or unstable protein products. Two large deletion mutations in VPS1 were created to further investigate Vps1p function. A mutant form of Vps1p lacking the carboxy-terminal half of the protein retained the capacity to bind GTP and did not interfere with sorting in a wild-type background. A mutant form of Vps1p lacking the entire GTP-binding domain interfered with vacuolar protein sorting in wild-type cells. We suggest that the amino-terminal domain of Vps1p provides a GTP-binding and hydrolyzing activity required for vacuolar protein sorting, and the carboxy-terminal domain mediates Vps1p association with an as yet unidentified component of the sorting apparatus.

Assembly and targeting of peripheral and integral membrane subunits of the yeast vacuolar H(+)-ATPase.

Previous purification and characterization of the yeast vacuolar proton-translocating ATPase (H(+)-ATPase) have indicated that it is a multisubunit complex consisting of both integral and peripheral membrane subunits (Uchida, E., Ohsumi, Y., and Anraku, Y. (1985) J. Biol. Chem. 260, 1090-1095; Kane, P. M., Yamashiro, C. T., and Stevens, T. H. (1989) J. Biol. Chem. 264, 19236-19244). We have obtained monoclonal antibodies recognizing the 42- and 100-kDa polypeptides that were co-purified with vacuolar ATPase activity. Using these antibodies we provide further evidence that the 42-kDa polypeptide, a peripheral membrane protein, and the 100-kDa polypeptide, an integral membrane protein, are genuine subunits of the yeast vacuolar H(+)-ATPase. The synthesis, assembly, and targeting of three of the peripheral subunits (the 69-, 60-, and 42-kDa subunits) and two of the integral membrane subunits (the 100- and 17-kDa subunits) were examined in mutant yeast cells containing chromosomal deletions in the TFP1, VAT2, or VMA3 genes, which encode the 69-, 60-, and 17-kDa subunits, respectively. The steady-state levels of the various subunits in whole cell lysates and purified vacuolar membranes were assessed by Western blotting, and the intracellular localization of the 60- and 100-kDa subunits was also examined by immunofluorescence microscopy. The results suggest that the assembly and/or the vacuolar targeting of the peripheral subunits of the yeast vacuolar H(+)-ATPase depend on the presence of all three of the 69-, 60-, and 17-kDa subunits. The 100-kDa subunit can be transported to the vacuole independently of the peripheral membrane subunits as long as the 17-kDa subunit is present; but in the absence of the 17-kDa subunit, the 100-kDa subunit appears to be both unstable and incompetent for transport to the vacuole.