Yeast Vps45p is a Sec1p-like protein required for the consumption of vacuole-targeted, post-Golgi transport vesicles.

Over 45 VPS genes (vacuolar protein sorting) in Saccharomyces cerevisiae are necessary for the correct sorting and delivery of vacuolar hydrolases. Yeast strains carrying mutations in a subset of these VPS genes (class D vps mutants) are also defective in the segregation of vacuolar material into the developing daughter cell and are morphologically characterized by having large central vacuoles. The class D VPS gene products, which include a Rab5 homologue (VPS21/YPT51) and a syntaxin homologue (PEP12/VPS6), have been proposed to function together at a particular step along the vacuolar protein sorting pathway. We have cloned another class D VPS gene, VPS45, which is homologous to a growing family of genes that encode Sec1p-like proteins. Vps45p is predicted to be a hydrophilic protein of 577 amino acids with a molecular mass of 67 kDa. Fractionation studies show that Vps45p is a peripheral membrane protein that cofractionates with Golgi-like membranes, consistent with Vps45p functioning in membrane traffic between the Golgi and the vacuole. Using a temperature-sensitive allele of VPS45, we show that inactivation of Vps45p causes the rapid accumulation of small (40-60 nm) vesicles and secretion of the vacuolar hydrolase carboxypeptidase Y. Because the entire yeast secretory pathway is functional after the temperature-induced inactivation of Vps45p, we conclude that the accumulated vesicles represent transport intermediates between the Golgi and the vacuole.

Purification and characterization of a late Golgi compartment from Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

We have devised a method for obtaining highly enriched membranes of a late yeast Golgi compartment, operationally defined by their containing the Kex2p protease, and generated four hybridoma cell lines that produced monoclonal antibodies directed against distinct Golgi membrane proteins (GMPs) (GMP36, GMP51, GMP77, and GMP95). Immunofluorescence and subcellular fractionation data indicated that, of the four GMPs analyzed, only GMP51 exhibited essentially an absolute colocalization with Kex2p. Also, as in the case of Kex2p, retention of GMP51 in yeast Golgi membranes was dependent on clathrin function. In contrast, the remaining three GMPs exhibited substantial, but not absolute, colocalization with Kex2p. The collective data are most consistent with a model where GMP36, GMP77, and GMP95 are present in all Kex2p-containing membranes, but Kex2p is present in only a subpopulation of membranes that contain these GMPs, thereby suggesting that either these particular GMPs exhibit overlapping distributions in compartments of the yeast Golgi complex or are also present in non-Golgi compartments. These findings are not consistent with the view that resident yeast Golgi proteins are generally restricted to a specific Golgi subcompartment, but they are consistent with the view that Golgi compartmental identity is determined by the relative mixtures of Golgi proteins that reside within individual cisternae.

A phosphatidylinositol transfer protein controls the phosphatidylcholine content of yeast Golgi membranes.

SEC14p is required for protein transport from the yeast Golgi complex. We describe a quantitative analysis of yeast bulk membrane and Golgi membrane phospholipid composition under conditions where Golgi secretory function has been uncoupled from its usual SEC14p requirement. The data demonstrate that SEC14p specifically functions to maintain a reduced phosphatidylcholine content in Golgi membranes and indicate that overproduction of SEC14p markedly reduces the apparent rate of phosphatidylcholine biosynthesis via the CDP-choline pathway in vivo. We suggest that SEC14p serves as a sensor of Golgi membrane phospholipid composition through which the activity of the CDP-choline pathway in Golgi membranes is regulated such that a phosphatidylcholine content that is compatible with the essential secretory function of these membranes is maintained.

Phospholipid transfer activity is relevant to but not sufficient for the essential function of the yeast SEC14 gene product.

To investigate several key aspects of phosphatidylinositol transfer protein (PI-TP) function in eukaryotic cells, rat PI-TP was expressed in yeast strains carrying lesions in SEC14, the structural gene for yeast PI-TP (SEC14p), whose activity is essential for Golgi secretory function in vivo. Rat PI-TP expression effected a specific complementation of sec14ts growth and secretory defects. Complementation of sec14 mutations was not absolute as rat PI-TP expression failed to rescue sec14 null mutations. This partial complementation of sec14 lesions by rat PI-TP correlated with inability of the mammalian protein to stably associate with yeast Golgi membranes and was not a result of rat PI-TP stabilizing the endogenous sec14ts gene product. These collective data demonstrate that while the in vitro PI-TP activity of SEC14p clearly reflects some functional in vivo property of SEC14p, the PI-TP activity is not the sole essential activity of SEC14p. Those data further identify an efficient Golgi targeting capability as a likely essential feature of SEC14p function in vivo. Finally, the data suggest that stable association of SEC14p with yeast Golgi membranes is not a simple function of its lipid-binding properties, indicate that the amino-terminal 129 SEC14p residues are sufficient to direct a catalytically inactive form of rat PI-TP to the Golgi and provide the first evidence to indicate that a mammalian PI-TP can stimulate Golgi secretory function in vivo.

SAC1p is an integral membrane protein that influences the cellular requirement for phospholipid transfer protein function and inositol in yeast.

Mutations in the SAC1 gene exhibit allele-specific genetic interactions with yeast actin structural gene defects and effect a bypass of the cellular requirement for the yeast phosphatidylinositol/phosphatidylcholine transfer protein (SEC14p), a protein whose function is essential for sustained Golgi secretory function. We report that SAC1p is an integral membrane protein that localizes to the yeast Golgi complex and to the yeast ER, but does not exhibit a detectable association with the bulk of the yeast F-actin cytoskeleton. The data also indicate that the profound in vivo effects on Golgi secretory function and the organization of the actin cytoskeleton observed in sac1 mutants result from loss of SAC1p function. This cosuppression of actin and SEC14p defects is a unique feature of sac1 alleles as mutations in other SAC genes that result in a suppression of actin defects do not result in phenotypic suppression of SEC14p defects. Finally, we report that sac1 mutants also exhibit a specific inositol auxotrophy that is not exhibited by the other sac mutant strains. This sac1-associated inositol auxotrophy is not manifested by measurable defects in de novo inositol biosynthesis, nor is it the result of some obvious defect in the ability of sac1 mutants to utilize inositol for phosphatidylinositol biosynthesis. Thus, sac1 mutants represent a novel class of inositol auxotroph in that these mutants appear to require elevated levels of inositol for growth. On the basis of the collective data, we suggest that SAC1p dysfunction exerts its pleiotropic effects on yeast Golgi function, the organization of the actin cytoskeleton, and the cellular requirement for inositol, through altered metabolism of inositol glycerophospholipids.

Mutations in the CDP-choline pathway for phospholipid biosynthesis bypass the requirement for an essential phospholipid transfer protein.

SEC14p is the yeast phosphatidylinositol (PI)/phosphatidylcholine (PC) transfer protein, and it effects an essential stimulation of yeast Golgi secretory function. We now report that the SEC14p localizes to the yeast Golgi and that the SEC14p requirement can be specifically and efficiently bypassed by mutations in any one of at least six genes. One of these suppressor genes was the structural gene for yeast choline kinase (CKI), disruption of which rendered the cell independent of the normally essential SEC14p requirement. The antagonistic action of the CKI gene product on SEC14p function revealed a previously unsuspected influence of biosynthetic activities of the CDP-choline pathway for PC biosynthesis on yeast Golgi function and indicated that SEC14p controls the phospholipid content of yeast Golgi membranes in vivo.

Cloning and characterization of Kluyveromyces lactis SEC14, a gene whose product stimulates Golgi secretory function in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The Saccharomyces cerevisiae SEC14 gene encodes a cytosolic factor that is required for secretory protein movement from the Golgi complex. That some conservation of SEC14p function may exist was initially suggested by experiments that revealed immunoreactive polypeptides in cell extracts of the divergent yeasts Kluyveromyces lactis and Schizosaccharomyces pombe. We have cloned and characterized the K. lactis SEC14 gene (SEC14KL). Immunoprecipitation experiments indicated that SEC14KL encoded the K. lactis structural homolog of SEC14p. In agreement with those results, nucleotide sequence analysis of SEC14KL revealed a gene product of 301 residues (Mr, 34,615) and 77% identity to SEC14p. Moreover, a single ectopic copy of SEC14KL was sufficient to render S. cerevisiae sec14-1(Ts) mutants, or otherwise inviable sec14-129::HIS3 mutant strains, completely proficient for secretory pathway function by the criteria of growth, invertase secretion, and kinetics of vacuolar protein localization. This efficient complementation of sec14-129::HIS3 was observed to occur when the rates of SEC14pKL and SEC14p synthesis were reduced by a factor of 7 to 10 with respect to the wild-type rate of SEC14p synthesis. Taken together, these data provide evidence that the high level of structural conservation between SEC14p and SEC14pKL reflects a functional identity between these polypeptides as well. On the basis of the SEC14p and SEC14pKL primary sequence homology to the human retinaldehyde-binding protein, we suggest that the general function of these SEC14p species may be to regulate the delivery of a hydrophobic ligand to Golgi membranes so that biosynthetic secretory traffic can be supported.