Identification and characterization of a drug‐sensitive strain enables puromycin‐based translational assays in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Issue 5 (19th March 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Cary, Gregory A.; Yoon, Sung Hwan; Garmendia Torres, Cecilia; Wang, Kathie; Hays, Michelle; Ludlow, Catherine; Goodlett, David R.; Dudley, Aimée M.
• Is Part Of: Yeast. Volume 31:Issue 5(2014:May)
• Page Start: 167
• Page End: 178
• Publication Date: 2014-03-19
• Subjects: Yeast -- Periodicals; Yeasts -- Periodicals; Yeasts -- genetics -- Periodicals; Electronic journals; 547
• DOI: 10.1002/yea.3007
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0749-503X

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main"> <title>Abstract</title> <p>Puromycin is an aminonucleoside antibiotic with structural similarity to aminoacyl tRNA. This structure allows the drug to bind the ribosomal A site and incorporate into nascent polypeptides, causing chain termination, ribosomal subunit dissociation and widespread translational arrest at high concentrations. In contrast, at sufficiently low concentrations, puromycin incorporates primarily at the C‐terminus of proteins. While a number of techniques utilize puromycin incorporation as a tool for probing translational activity <italic>in vivo</italic>, these methods cannot be applied in yeasts that are insensitive to puromycin. Here, we describe a mutant strain of the yeast <italic>Saccharomyces cerevisiae</italic> that is sensitive to puromycin and characterize the cellular response to the drug. Puromycin inhibits the growth of yeast cells mutant for <italic>erg6</italic>∆, <italic>pdr1</italic>∆ and <italic>pdr3</italic>∆ (EPP) on both solid and liquid media. Puromycin also induces the aggregation of the cytoplasmic processing body component Edc3 in the mutant strain. We establish that puromycin is rapidly incorporated into yeast proteins and test the effects of puromycin on translation <italic>in vivo</italic>. This study establishes the EPP strain as a valuable tool for implementing puromycin‐based assays in yeast, which will enable new avenues of inquiry into protein production and maturation. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.</p> </abstract>