Isolation of a gene encoding a G protein α subunit involved in the regulation of cAMP levels in the yeast Kluyveromyces lactis

• Published in: Yeast (Chichester, England) Vol. 12; no. 11; pp. 1125 - 1133
• Main Authors: Saviñón‐Tejeda, Alma L., Ongay‐Larios, Laura, RamíRez, Jorge, Coria, Roberto
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chichester, UK John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 15.09.1996
• Subjects: Amino Acid Sequence; Base Sequence; cAMP; Cyclic AMP - biosynthesis; G proteins; Genes, Fungal; GTP-Binding Proteins - genetics; GTP-Binding Proteins - physiology; Kluyveromyces - genetics; Kluyveromyces lactis; Molecular Sequence Data; signal transduction; yeast; α subunit
• ISSN: 0749-503X; 1097-0061
• DOI: 10.1002/(SICI)1097-0061(19960915)12:11<1125::AID-YEA7>3.0.CO;2-2

Using chromosomal DNA from Kluyveromyces lactis as template and oligodeoxynucleotides designed from conserved regions of various G protein alpha subunits we were able to amplify by the polymerase chain reaction two products of approximately 0·5 kb (P‐1) and 0·8 kb (P‐2). Sequencing showed that these two fragments share high homology with genes coding for the Gα subunits from different sources. Using the P‐1 fragment as a probe we screened a genomic library from K. lactis and we cloned a gene (KlGPA2) whose deduced amino acid sequence showed, depending on the exact alignment, 62% similarity and 38% identity with Gpa1p and 76% similarity and 63% identity with Gpa2p, the G protein α subunits from Saccharomyces cerevisiae. KlGPA2 is a single‐copy gene and its disruption rendered viable cells with significantly reduced cAMP level, indicating that this Gα subunit may be involved in regulating the adenylyl cyclase activity, rather than participating in the mating pheromone response pathway. KlGpa2p shares some structural similarities with members of the mammalian Gαs family (stimulatory of adenylyl cyclase) including the absence in its N‐terminus of a myristoyl‐modification sequence. The sequence reported in this paper has been deposited in the GenBank data base (Accession No. L45105).