Citations Hub

Dixon SJ, Fedyshyn Y, Koh JLY, Prasad TSK, Chahwan C, Chua G, Toufighi K, Baryshnikova A, Hayles J, Hoe KL, Kim DU, Park HO, Myers CL, Pandey A, Durocher D, Andrews BJ, Boone C Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2008 Oct 28;105(43):16653–8 Yeast/Pombe-SGA Synthetic lethal genetic interaction networks define genes that work together to control essential functions and have been studied extensively in Saccharomyces cerevisiae using the synthetic genetic array (SGA) analysis technique (ScSGA). The extent to which synthetic lethal or othergenetic interaction networks are conserved between species remains uncertain. To address this question, we compared literature-curated and experimentally derived genetic interaction networks for two distantly related yeasts, Schizosaccharomyces pombe and S. cerevisiae. We find that 23% of interactions in a novel, high-quality S. pombe literature-curated network are conserved in the existing S. cerevisiae network. Next, we developed a method, called S. pombe SGA analysis (SpSGA), enabling rapid, high-throughput isolation of genetic interactions in this species. Direct comparison by SpSGA and ScSGA of approximately 220 genes involved in DNA replication, the DNA damage response, chromatin remodeling, intracellular transport, and other processes revealed that approximately 29% of genetic interactions are common to both species, with the remainder exhibiting unique, species-specific patterns of genetic connectivity. We define a conserved yeast network (CYN) composed of 106 genes and 144 interactions and suggest that this network may help understand the shared biology of diverse eukaryotic species.

Takeda K, Mori A, Yanagida M PLoS One. 2011;6(7):e22021 Yeast/Pombe-SGA Bortezomib/PS-341/Velcade, a proteasome inhibitor, is widely used to treat multiple myeloma. While several mechanisms of the cytotoxicity of thedrug were proposed, the actual mechanism remains elusive. We aimed to identify genes affecting the cytotoxicity of Bortezomib in the fission yeastS. pombe as the drug inhibits this organism's cell division cycle like proteasome mutants. Among the 2815 genes screened (covering 56% of total ORFs), 19 genes, whose deletions induce strong synthetic lethality with Bortezomib, were identified. The products of the 19 genes included four ubiquitin enzymes and one nuclear proteasome factor, and 13 of them are conserved in humans. Our results will provide useful information for understanding the actions of Bortezomib within cells.

Wang J, Tadeo X, Hou H, Andrews S, Moresco JJ, Yates JR III, Nagy PL, Jia S Nucleic Acids Res. 2014 Oct;42(18):11419-32 Yeast/Pombe-SGA Heterochromatin preferentially forms at repetitive DNA elements through RNAi-mediated targeting of histone-modifying enzymes. It was proposed that splicing factors interact with the RNAi machinery or regulate the splicing of repeat transcripts to directly participate in heterochromatin assembly. Here, by screening the fission yeast deletion library, we comprehensively identified factors required for telomeric heterochromatin assembly, including a novel gene tls1+. Purification of Tls1 and mass spectrometry analysis of its interacting proteins show that Tls1 associates with the spliceosome subunit Brr2. RNA sequencing analysis shows that the splicing of a subset of mRNAs are affected in tls1Δ cells, including mRNAs ofshelterin components rap1+ and poz1+. Importantly, replacing rap1+ and poz1+ with their cDNAs significantly alleviated heterochromatin defects oftls1Δ cells, suggesting that the missplicing of shelterin components is the cause of such defects, and that splicing factors regulate telomericheterochromatin through the proper splicing of heterochromatin factors. In addition to its role in telomeric heterochromatin assembly, Tls1-mediatedsplicing of shelterin mRNAs also regulates telomere length. Given that its human homologue C9ORF78 also associates with the spliceosome and is overexpressed in multiple cancer cell lines, our results suggest that C9ORF78 overexpression might alter the proper splicing of genes during cancer progression.

Schwarzmüller T, Ma B, Hiller E, Istel F, Tscherner M, Brunke S, Ames L, Firon A, Green B, Cabral V, Marcet-Houben M, Jacobsen ID, Quintin J, Seider K, Frohner I, Glaser W, Jungwirth H, Bachellier-Bassi S, Chauvel M, Zeidler U, Ferrandon D, Gabaldón T, Hube B, d'Enfert C, Rupp S, Cormack B, Haynes K, Kuchler K PLoS Pathog. 2014 Jun 19;10(6):e1004211 Yeast/Fungi The opportunistic fungal pathogen Candida glabrata is a frequent cause of candidiasis, causing infections ranging from superficial to life-threatening disseminated disease. The inherent tolerance of C. glabrata to azole drugs makes this pathogen a serious clinical threat. To identify novel genesimplicated in antifungal drug tolerance, we have constructed a large-scale C. glabrata deletion library consisting of 619 unique, individually bar-coded mutant strains, each lacking one specific gene, all together representing almost 12% of the genome. Functional analysis of this library in a series of phenotypic and fitness assays identified numerous genes required for growth of C. glabrata under normal or specific stress conditions, as well as a number of novel genes involved in tolerance to clinically important antifungal drugs such as azoles and echinocandins. We identified 38 deletionstrains displaying strongly increased susceptibility to caspofungin, 28 of which encoding proteins that have not previously been linked to echinocandin tolerance. Our results demonstrate the potential of the C. glabrata mutant collection as a valuable resource in functional genomics studies of this important fungal pathogen of humans, and to facilitate the identification of putative novel antifungal drug target and virulence genes.

Brown JCS, Madhani HD PLoS Genet. 2012 Dec 27;8(12):e1003168 Yeast/Fungi In many human fungal pathogens, genes required for disease remain largely unannotated, limiting the impact of virulence gene discovery efforts. We tested the utility of a cross-species genetic interaction profiling approach to obtain clues to the molecular function of unannotated pathogenicityfactors in the human pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans. This approach involves expression of C. neoformans genes of interest in each member of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae gene deletion library, quantification of their impact on growth, and calculation of the cross-species genetic interactionprofiles. To develop functional predictions, we computed and analyzed the correlations of these profiles with existing genetic interaction profiles of S. cerevisiae deletion mutants. For C. neoformans LIV7, which has no S. cerevisiae ortholog, this profiling approach predicted an unanticipated role in the Golgi apparatus. Validation studies in C. neoformans demonstrated that Liv7 is a functional Golgi factor where it promotes the suppression of the exposure of a specific immunostimulatory molecule, mannose, on the cell surface, thereby inhibiting phagocytosis. The genetic interaction profile of another pathogenicity gene that lacks an S. cerevisiae ortholog, LIV6, strongly predicted a role in endosome function. This prediction was also supported by studies of the corresponding C. neoformans null mutant. Our results demonstrate the utility of quantitative cross-species geneticinteraction profiling for the functional annotation of fungal pathogenicity proteins of unknown function including, surprisingly, those that are not conserved in sequence across fungi.

Mitchell L, Lambert J-P, Gerdes M, Al-Madhoun AS, Skerjanc IS, Figeys D, Baetz K Mol Cell Biol. 2008 Apr;28(7):2244–56 Yeast/SGA The Saccharomyces cerevisiae NuA4 histone acetyltransferase complex catalyzes the acetylation of histone H4 and the histone variant Htz1 to regulate key cellular events, including transcription, DNA repair, and faithful chromosome segregation. To further investigate the cellular processes impacted by NuA4, we exploited the nonessential subunits of the complex to build an extensive NuA4 genetic-interaction network map. The mapreveals that NuA4 is a genetic hub whose function buffers a diverse range of cellular processes, many not previously linked to the complex, including Golgi complex-to-vacuole vesicle-mediated transport. Further, we probe the role that nonessential subunits play in NuA4 complex integrity. We find that most nonessential subunits have little impact on NuA4 complex integrity and display between 12 and 42 genetic interactions. In contrast, the deletion of EAF1 causes the collapse of the NuA4 complex and displays 148 genetic interactions. Our study indicates that Eaf1 plays a crucial function in NuA4 complex integrity. Further, we determine that Eaf5 and Eaf7 form a subcomplex, which reflects their similar geneticinteraction profiles and phenotypes. Our integrative study demonstrates that genetic interaction maps are valuable in dissecting complex structure and provides insight into why the human NuA4 complex, Tip60, has been associated with a diverse range of pathologies.

Kim HS, Huh J, Fay JC FEMS Yeast Res. 2009 Aug;9(5):713–22 Yeast/SGA The downstream consequences of a single quantitative trait polymorphism can provide important insight into the molecular basis of a trait. However, the molecular consequences of a polymorphism may be complex and only a subset of these may influence the trait of interest. In natural isolates of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a nonsynonymous polymorphism in cystathione beta-synthase (CYS4) causes a deficiency in both cysteine and glutathione that results in rust-colored colonies and drug-dependent growth defects. Using a single-nucleotide allele replacement, we characterized the effects of this polymorphism on gene expression levels across the genome. To determine whether any of the differentially expressed genes are necessary for the production of rust-colored colonies, we screened the yeast deletion collection for genes that enhance or suppress rust coloration. We found that genes in the sulfur assimilation pathway are required for the production of rust color but not the drug-sensitivity phenotype. Our results show that a single quantitative trait polymorphism can generate a complex set of downstream changes, providing a molecular basis for pleiotropy.

Costanzo M, Baryshnikova A, Bellay J, Kim Y, Spear ED, Sevier CS, Ding H, Koh JL, Toufighi K, Mostafavi S, Prinz J, St Onge RP, VanderSluis B, Makhnevych T, Vizeacoumar FJ, Alizadeh S, Bahr S, Brost RL, Chen Y, Cokol M, Deshpande R, Li Z, Lin ZY, Liang W, Marback M, Paw J, San Luis BJ, Shuteriqi E, Tong AH, van Dyk N, Wallace IM, Whitney JA, Weirauch MT, Zhong G, Zhu H, Houry WA, Brudno M, Ragibizadeh S, Papp B, Pál C, Roth FP, Giaever G, Nislow C, Troyanskaya OG, Bussey H, Bader GD, Gingras AC, Morris QD, Kim PM, Kaiser CA, Myers CL, Andrews BJ, Boone C Science. 2010 Jan 22;327(5964):425-31 Yeast/SGA A genome-scale genetic interaction map was constructed by examining 5.4 million gene-gene pairs for synthetic genetic interactions, generating quantitative genetic interaction profiles for approximately 75% of all genes in the budding yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. A network based on genetic interaction profiles reveals a functional map of the cell in which genes of similar biological processes cluster together in coherent subsets, and highly correlated profiles delineate specific pathways to define gene function. The global network identifies functional cross-connections between all bioprocesses, mapping a cellular wiring diagram of pleiotropy. Genetic interaction degree correlated with a number of different gene attributes, which may be informative about genetic network hubs in other organisms. We also demonstrate that extensive and unbiased mapping of the genetic landscape provides a key for interpretation of chemical-genetic interactions and drug target identification.

Berthelet S, Usher J, Shulist K, Hamza A, Maltez N, Johnston A, Fong Y, Harris LJ, Baetz K Genetics. 2010 Jul;185(3):1111–28 Yeast/SGA The Saccharomyces cerevisiae transcription factor Aft1 is activated in iron-deficient cells to induce the expression of iron regulon genes, which coordinate the increase of iron uptake and remodel cellular metabolism to survive low-iron conditions. In addition, Aft1 has been implicated in numerous cellular processes including cell-cycle progression and chromosome stability; however, it is unclear if all cellular effects of Aft1 are mediated through iron homeostasis. To further investigate the cellular processes affected by Aft1, we identified >70 deletion mutants that are sensitive to perturbations in AFT1 levels using genome-wide synthetic lethal and synthetic dosage lethal screens. Our genetic network reveals thatAft1 affects a diverse range of cellular processes, including the RIM101 pH pathway, cell-wall stability, DNA damage, protein transport, chromosome stability, and mitochondrial function. Surprisingly, only a subset of mutants identified are sensitive to extracellular iron fluctuations or display genetic interactions with mutants of iron regulon genes AFT2 or FET3. We demonstrate that Aft1 works in parallel with the RIM101 pH pathway and the role of Aft1 in DNA damage repair is mediated by iron. In contrast, through both directed studies and microarray transcriptional profiling, we show that the role of Aft1 in chromosome maintenance and benomyl resistance is independent of its iron regulatory role, potentially through a nontranscriptional mechanism.

Wood C, Huff J, Marshall W, Yu EQ SPIE. 2011 Feb 22 Yeast/SGA To measure protein interactions, diffusion properties, and local concentrations in single cells, Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy (FCS) is a well-established and widely accepted method. However, measurements can take a long time and are laborious. Therefore investigations are typically limited to tens or a few hundred cells. We developed an automated system to overcome these limitations and make FCS available for High Content Screening (HCS). We acquired data in an auto-correlation screen of more than 4000 of the 6000 proteins of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae , tagged with eGFP and expanded the HCS to use cross-correlation between eGFP and mCherry tagged proteins to screen for molecular interactions. We performed all high-content FCS screens (HCS-FCS) in a 96 well plate format. The system is based on an extended Carl Zeiss fluorescence correlation spectrometer ConfoCor 3 attached to a confocal microscope LSM 510. We developed image-processing software to control these hardware components. The confocal microscope obtained overview images and we developed an algorithm to search for and detect single cells. At each cell, we positioned a laser beam at a well-defined point and recorded the fluctuation signal. We used automatic scoring of the signal for quality control. All data was stored and organized in a database based on the open source Open Microscopy Environment (OME) platform. To analyze the data we used the image processing language IDL and the open source statistical software package R.