Functional complementation reveals that 9 of the 13 human V-ATPase subunits can functionally substitute for their yeast orthologs.

Vacuolar-type H+-ATPase (V-ATPase) is a highly conserved proton pump responsible for acidification of intracellular organelles and potential drug target. It is a multisubunit complex comprising a cytoplasmic V1 domain responsible for ATP hydrolysis and a membrane-embedded Vo domain that contributes to proton translocation across the membrane. Saccharomyces cerevisiae V-ATPase is composed of 14 subunits, deletion of any one of which results in well-defined growth defects. As the structure of V-ATPase and the function of each subunit have been well-characterized in yeast, this organism has been recognized as a preferred model for studies of V-ATPases. In this study, to assess the functional relatedness of the yeast and human V-ATPase subunits, we investigated whether human V-ATPase subunits can complement calcium- or pH-sensitive growth, acidification of the vacuolar lumen, assembly of the V-ATPase complex, and protein sorting in yeast mutants lacking the equivalent yeast genes. These assessments revealed that 9 of the 13 human V-ATPase subunits can partially or fully complement the function of the corresponding yeast subunits. Importantly, sequence similarity was not necessarily correlated with functional complementation. We also found that besides all Vo domain subunits, the V1 F subunit is required for proper assembly of the Vo domain at the endoplasmic reticulum. Furthermore, the human H subunit fully restored the level of vacuolar acidification, but only partially rescued calcium-sensitive growth, suggesting a specific role of the H subunit in V-ATPase activity. These findings provide important insights into functional homologies between yeast and human V-ATPases.

Lipid droplet proteins, Lds1p, Lds2p, and Rrt8p, are implicated in membrane protein transport associated with ergosterol.

Lipid droplets (LDs) are ubiquitous organelles, enclosed in a monolayer of phospholipid, which store excess fatty acids as neutral lipids such as triacylglycerol and sterol esters. Previous studies have revealed that LDs contain many proteins with various functions required for lipid metabolism and vesicular trafficking. Among them, Lds (Lipid Droplet in Sporulation) proteins, Lds1p and Lds2p, are reportedly induced and localized to LDs during yeast sporulation, but their cellular function has not been clarified. Here we show that the Lds proteins, Lds1p, Lds2p and Rrt8p, are expressed and localized at LDs in vegetative cells, being required for proper localization of plasma membrane proteins. We found that deletion of Lds genes led to mis-sorting of Wsc1p, a cell wall stress sensor, from the plasma membrane to the vacuole. We also demonstrated that lack of these proteins partially suppressed the growth defect and mis-sorting of the high-affinity tryptophan transporter Tat2p, induced by impairment of ergosterol biosynthesis. Furthermore, we identified Sec39p/Dsl3p, a component of the DSL1 tethering complex that mediates the interaction with COPI vesicles, as a binding partner for Lds2p. These results suggest a possible role of Lds proteins in maintenance of membrane lipid homeostasis and accompanying membrane protein transport.

V-ATPase-dependent luminal acidification is required for endocytic recycling of a yeast cell wall stress sensor, Wsc1p.

Wsc1p is a major cell wall sensor protein localized at the polarized cell surface. The localization of Wsc1p is maintained by endocytosis and recycling from endosomes back to the cell surface, but changes to the vacuole when cells are subjected to heat stress. Exploiting this unique property of Wsc1p, we screened for yeast single-gene deletion mutants exhibiting defects in Wsc1p trafficking. By expressing 3GFP-tagged Wsc1p in mutants with deleted genes whose function is related to intracellular trafficking, we identified 5 gene groups affecting Wsc1p trafficking, impaired respectively in endocytic internalization, multivesicular body sorting, the GARP complex, endosomal maturation/vacuolar fusion, and V-ATPase. Interestingly, deletion of the VPH1 gene, encoding the V(o) subunit of vacuolar-type H(+)-ATPase (V-ATPase), led to mis-localization of Wsc1p from the plasma membrane to the vacuole. In addition, disruption of other V-ATPase subunits (vma mutants) also caused defects of Wsc1p trafficking and vacuolar acidification similar to those seen in the vph1Δ mutant. Moreover, we found that deletion of the VPS26 gene, encoding a subunit of the retromer complex, also caused a defect in Wsc1p recycling and mis-localization of Wsc1p to the vacuole. These findings clarified the previously unidentified Wsc1p recycling pathway and requirement of V-ATPase-dependent luminal acidification for Wsc1p recycling.