Phosphatidylcholine transfer activity of yeast Sec14p is not essential for its function in vivo

FvOshC Is a Key Global Regulatory Target in Fusarium verticillioides for Fumonisin Biosynthesis and Disease Control

Fusarium verticillioides has a substantial impact on maize production, commonly leading to maize ear rot and the production of fumonisin, a mycotoxin that poses health risks to both humans and animals. Currently, there is a lack of molecular targets for preventing the disease and controlling the toxin. The biological functions of oxysterol-binding proteins (OSBP) in filamentous fungi remain unclear. In this research, 7 oxysterol-binding protein-related proteins were identified in F. verticillioides, and these proteins were obtained through prokaryotic expression and purification. FvOshC was identified as the specific protein that binds to ergosterol through fluorescence titration. Gene knockout complementation techniques confirmed that FvOSHC plays a positive role, establishing it as a novel global regulatory protein involved in the pathogenicity and FB1 biosynthesis in F. verticillioides. Additionally, the interaction between FvOshC and FvSec14 was identified using yeast two-hybrid techniques. Moreover, computer-aided drug design technology was utilized to identify the receptor molecule Xanthatin based on FvOshC. The inhibitory effect of Xanthatin on the growth of F. verticillioides and the synthesis of FB1 was significantly demonstrated. These findings provide valuable insights that can aid in the management of mycotoxin pollution.

Sec14 family of lipid transfer proteins in yeasts

The hydrophobicity of lipids prevents their free movement across the cytoplasm. To achieve highly heterogeneous and precisely regulated lipid distribution in different cellular membranes, lipids are transported by lipid transfer proteins (LTPs) in addition to their transport by vesicles. Sec14 family is one of the most extensively studied groups of LTPs. Here we provide an overview of Sec14 family of LTPs in the most studied yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae as well as in other selected non-Saccharomyces yeasts-Schizosaccharomyces pombe, Kluyveromyces lactis, Candida albicans, Candida glabrata, Cryptococcus neoformans, and Yarrowia lipolytica. Discussed are specificities of Sec14-domain LTPs in various yeasts, their mode of action, subcellular localization, and physiological function. In addition, quite few Sec14 family LTPs are target of antifungal drugs, serve as modifiers of drug resistance or influence virulence of pathologic yeasts. Thus, they represent an important object of study from the perspective of human health.

Chloroplast Sec14-like 1 (CPSFL1) is essential for normal chloroplast development and affects carotenoid accumulation in Chlamydomonas

Carotenoids are essential molecules in oxygenic photoautotrophs, and they fulfill essential requirements for human and animal nutrition. How carotenoid accumulation is regulated in the chloroplast, a cyanobacterium-derived organelle, remains poorly understood, despite significant advancements in identifying enzymes of the carotenoid biosynthetic pathway. This study identifies a role of chloroplast Sec14-like 1 (CPSFL1), a CRAL-TRIO protein of eukaryotic origin, in modulation of carotenoid biosynthesis and accumulation in the chloroplast. The CPSFL1 protein represents an isoprenoid- and carotenoid-binding protein that associates with membranes through interactions with the phospholipid phosphatidic acid. These findings have implications for understanding carotenoid biosynthesis and optimizing algal carotenoid nutritional quality.

Plastid isoprenoid-derived carotenoids serve essential roles in chloroplast development and photosynthesis. Although nearly all enzymes that participate in the biosynthesis of carotenoids in plants have been identified, the complement of auxiliary proteins that regulate synthesis, transport, sequestration, and degradation of these molecules and their isoprenoid precursors have not been fully described. To identify such proteins that are necessary for the optimal functioning of oxygenic photosynthesis, we screened a large collection of nonphotosynthetic (acetate-requiring) DNA insertional mutants of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and isolated cpsfl1. The cpsfl1 mutant is extremely light-sensitive and susceptible to photoinhibition and photobleaching. The CPSFL1 gene encodes a CRAL-TRIO hydrophobic ligand-binding (Sec14) domain protein. Proteins containing this domain are limited to eukaryotes, but some may have been retargeted to function in organelles of endosymbiotic origin. The cpsfl1 mutant showed decreased accumulation of plastidial isoprenoid-derived pigments, especially carotenoids, and whole-cell focused ion-beam scanning-electron microscopy revealed a deficiency of carotenoid-rich chloroplast structures (e.g., eyespot and plastoglobules). The low carotenoid content resulted from impaired biosynthesis at a step prior to phytoene, the committed precursor to carotenoids. The CPSFL1 protein bound phytoene and β-carotene when expressed in Escherichia coli and phosphatidic acid in vitro. We suggest that CPSFL1 is involved in the regulation of phytoene synthesis and carotenoid transport and thereby modulates carotenoid accumulation in the chloroplast.

A Sec14 domain protein is required for photoautotrophic growth and chloroplast vesicle formation in Arabidopsis thaliana

In eukaryotic photosynthetic organisms, the conversion of solar into chemical energy occurs in thylakoid membranes in the chloroplast. How thylakoid membranes are formed and maintained is poorly understood. However, previous observations of vesicles adjacent to the stromal side of the inner envelope membrane of the chloroplast suggest a possible role of membrane transport via vesicle trafficking from the inner envelope to the thylakoids. Here we show that the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana has a chloroplast-localized Sec14-like protein (CPSFL1) that is necessary for photoautotrophic growth and vesicle formation at the inner envelope membrane of the chloroplast. The cpsfl1 mutants are seedling lethal, show a defect in thylakoid structure, and lack chloroplast vesicles. Sec14 domain proteins are found only in eukaryotes and have been well characterized in yeast, where they regulate vesicle budding at the trans-Golgi network. Like the yeast Sec14p, CPSFL1 binds phosphatidylinositol phosphates (PIPs) and phosphatidic acid (PA) and acts as a phosphatidylinositol transfer protein in vitro, and expression of Arabidopsis CPSFL1 can complement the yeast sec14 mutation. CPSFL1 can transfer PIP into PA-rich membrane bilayers in vitro, suggesting that CPSFL1 potentially facilitates vesicle formation by trafficking PA and/or PIP, known regulators of membrane trafficking between organellar subcompartments. These results underscore the role of vesicles in thylakoid biogenesis and/or maintenance. CPSFL1 appears to be an example of a eukaryotic cytosolic protein that has been coopted for a function in the chloroplast, an organelle derived from endosymbiosis of a cyanobacterium.

Topological regulation of lipid balance in cells

Lipids are unevenly distributed within and between cell membranes, thus defining organelle identity. Such distribution relies on local metabolic branches and mechanisms that move lipids. These processes are regulated by feedback mechanisms that decipher topographical information in organelle membranes and then regulate lipid levels or flows. In the endoplasmic reticulum, the major lipid source, transcriptional regulators and enzymes sense changes in membrane features to modulate lipid production. At the Golgi apparatus, lipid-synthesizing, lipid-flippase, and lipid-transport proteins (LTPs) collaborate to control lipid balance and distribution within the membrane to guarantee remodeling processes crucial for vesicular trafficking. Open questions exist regarding LTPs, which are thought to be lipid sensors that regulate lipid synthesis or carriers that transfer lipids between organelles across long distances or in contact sites. A novel model is that LTPs, by exchanging two different lipids, exploit one lipid gradient between two distinct membranes to build a second lipid gradient.

Conformational dynamics of the major yeast phosphatidylinositol transfer protein sec14p: insight into the mechanisms of phospholipid exchange and diseases of sec14p-like protein deficiencies

Molecular dynamics simulations coupled with functional analyses of the major yeast phosphatidylinositol/phosphatidylcholine transfer protein Sec14p identify structural elements involved in regulating the ability of Sec14p to execute phospholipid exchange. The molecular dynamics simulations suggest large rigid body motions within the Sec14p molecule accompany closing and opening of an A(10)/T(4)/A(11) helical gate, and that "state-of-closure" of this helical gate determines access to the Sec14p phospholipid binding cavity. The data also project that conformational dynamics of the helical gate are controlled by a hinge unit (residues F(212), Y(213), K(239), I(240), and I(242)) that links to the N- and C-terminal ends of the helical gate, and by a novel gating module (composed of the B(1)LB(2) and A(12)LT(5) substructures) through which conformational information is transduced to the hinge. The (114)TDKDGR(119) motif of B(1)LB(2) plays an important role in that transduction process. These simulations offer new mechanistic possibilities for an important half-reaction of the Sec14p phospholipid exchange cycle that occurs on membrane surfaces after Sec14p has ejected bound ligand, and is reloading with another phospholipid molecule. These conformational transitions further suggest structural rationales for known disease missense mutations that functionally compromise mammalian members of the Sec14-protein superfamily.