Phenotype traits associated with different alleles at the RPS5 locus in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The Drosophila ribosome protein S5 paralog RpS5b promotes germ cell and follicle cell differentiation during oogenesis

Emerging evidence suggests that ribosome heterogeneity may have important functional consequences in the translation of specific mRNAs within different cell types and under various conditions. Ribosome heterogeneity comes in many forms, including post-translational modification of ribosome proteins (RPs), absence of specific RPs and inclusion of different RP paralogs. The Drosophila genome encodes two RpS5 paralogs: RpS5a and RpS5b. While RpS5a is ubiquitously expressed, RpS5b exhibits enriched expression in the reproductive system. Deletion of RpS5b results in female sterility marked by developmental arrest of egg chambers at stages 7-8, disruption of vitellogenesis and posterior follicle cell (PFC) hyperplasia. While transgenic rescue experiments suggest functional redundancy between RpS5a and RpS5b, molecular, biochemical and ribo-seq experiments indicate that RpS5b mutants display increased rRNA transcription and RP production, accompanied by increased protein synthesis. Loss of RpS5b results in microtubule-based defects and in mislocalization of Delta and Mindbomb1, leading to failure of Notch pathway activation in PFCs. Together, our results indicate that germ cell-specific expression of RpS5b promotes proper egg chamber development by ensuring the homeostasis of functional ribosomes.

Differential expression of SUC genes: a question of bases

Non-coding nucleotide sequences located 5' upstream of the transcriptional start site play an essential role in gene expression as they contain binding sites for transcription and regulatory factors. The yeast SUC gene family is a useful model to study the influence that nucleotide exchanges within the promoter regions have on their expression, since (i) these genes, regulated by glucose repression, are differentially transcribed (invertase activity produced by distinct SUC genes may show variations of about 10-fold); and (ii) promoter sequences of SUC3, SUC4, SUC5 and SUC7 are more than 99% homologous, showing only six base exchanges among all of them. Comparison of these nucleotide exchanges with the expression of each SUC gene (located either on chromosomes or on multicopy and centromeric plasmids) points out that naturally occurring base exchanges as few as one nucleotide modification (G to A transition at position -497 relative to the translational start site, C to T transition at position -460 and insertion/deletion of a T at positions -590, -586 and -435) may have a strong effect on gene expression.

Differential expression of the invertase-encoding SUC genes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Invertase (INV) is encoded in Saccharomyces cerevisiae by a family of genes, comprising SUC1-SUC5 and SUC7. Production of INV is highly variable, dependent on the strain and SUC gene present in the cell. The differences in INV production derive from the structure of the genes or are dependent on the genetic background of the strain. Centromeric plasmids (based on YCp50) carrying one of the SUC genes (except SUC7) were introduced into a strain (SEY2101) lacking SUC genes. The INV produced by the transformants was dependent on the individual SUC genes, and correlated with INV mRNA levels. Plasmids in which SUC2 had been placed under control of promoters from the other SUC genes, were used to transform SEY2101 cells. The amounts of INV produced by cells carrying hybrid SUC genes were in agreement with the levels expected if the promoter controlled the expression of the SUC2 structural region. It is suggested that the differences in expression are a function of the transcription efficiency of the different SUC gene promoters, based on the divergence of 5' sequences.