Yeast Genetics and Molecular Biology 1996
Madison, Wisconsin
August 1996


Name: Crawford, Michael J
Mailing Address: 660 S. Euclid Ave., St. Louis , MO 63110
Email Address: crawford@borcim.wustl.edu
Phone and Fax numbers: (314) 362-4779, (314) 362-1232

Unusual oxygen and carbon source regulation of the S. cerevisiae flavohemoglobin.

Michael J. Crawford and Daniel E. Goldberg. The Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Departments of Molecular Microbiology and Medicine, Washington University Medical School, 660 S. Euclid Ave., St Louis, MO 63110

The S. cerevisiae flavohemoglobin (YHB) shares extensive homology with the bacterial globins in Vitreoscilla, Escherichia coli, and Bacillus subtilis, suggesting an ancient origin and a possible common function for members of this protein family. However, unlike its bacterial counterparts, YHB is induced during logarithmic growth and in oxygen-replete conditions. YHB transcription is aerobically regulated by the heme-responsive transcription factors HAP1 and HAP2-5, while anaerobically there is low-level HAP-independent gene expression. Surprisingly, no glucose repression of YHB transcription is evident, which is novel among the HAP2-regulated heme proteins studied. A hap1 strain also shows no glucose repression of YHB, suggesting a HAP2-regulated activity that is insensitive to glucose-repression. A hap2 strain displays increased YHB transcription in glucose, indicating that the HAP1-regulated activity is best in this carbon source. Immunolocalization of YHB place it as a soluble, cytoplasmic protein. These studies argue against an hypothesized role for the flavohemoglobin assisting in mitochondrial respiration and instead suggest a separate and as yet unknown function for YHB in S. cerevisiae aerobic metabolism.