Genes, Vol. 12, Pages 1120: Expression of a Truncated Yeast Ccc1 Vacuolar Transporter Increases the Accumulation of Endogenous Iron

Genes, Vol. 12, Pages 1120: Expression of a Truncated Yeast Ccc1 Vacuolar Transporter Increases the Accumulation of Endogenous Iron Genes doi: 10.3390/genes12081120 Authors: Raquel Sorribes-Dauden María Teresa Martínez-Pastor Sergi Puig Iron is an essential micronutrient for all eukaryotic organisms because it participates as a redox cofactor in multiple metabolic processes. Iron bioavailability is highly restricted due to the low solubility of its oxidized form, frequently leading to iron deficiency anemia. The baker’s yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is used as a model organism for iron homeostasis studies, but also as a food supplement and fermentative microorganism in the food industry. Yeast cells use the vacuolar Ccc1 transporter to detoxify and store excess iron in the vacuoles. Here, we modulate CCC1 expression and properties to increase iron extraction from the environment. We show that constitutive expression of full-length CCC1 is toxic, whereas deletion of its cytosolic amino-terminal (Nt) domain (NtDCCC1) rescues this phenotype. Toxicity is exacerbated in cells lacking AFT1 transcription factor. Further characterization of NtDCcc1 protein suggests that it is a partially functional protein. Western blot analyses indicate that deletion of Ccc1 Nt domain does not significantly alter GFP-Ccc1 protein stability. A functional full-length GFP-Ccc1 protein localized to particular regions of the vacuolar membrane, whereas GFP-NtDCcc1 protein was evenly distr...
Source: Genes - Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Authors: Tags: Article Source Type: research