Intracellular glutathione pools are heterogeneously concentrated.

Glutathione is present in millimolar concentrations in the cell, but its relative distribution among cellular compartments remains elusive. We have chosen the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) as an example organelle to study compartment-specific glutathione levels. Using a glutaredoxin sensor (sCGrx1pER), which rapidly and specifically equilibrates with the reduced glutathione (GSH)-glutathione disulfide (GSSG) redox couple with known equilibrium constant, we showed that the [GSH]:[GSSG] ratio in the ER of intact HeLa cells is less than 7:1.

Trisulfides in proteins.

Trisulfides and other oligosulfides are widely distributed in the biological world. In plants, for example, garlic, trisulfides are associated with potentially beneficial properties. However, an extra neutral sulfur atom covalently bound between the two sulfur atoms of a pair of cysteines is not a common post-translational modification, and the number of proteins in which a trisulfide has been unambiguously identified is small.

Promoter binding by the Adr1 transcriptional activator may be regulated by phosphorylation in the DNA-binding region.

Background: Post-translational modification regulates promoter-binding by Adr1, a Zn-finger transcriptional activator of glucose-regulated genes. Support for this model includes the activation of an Adr1-dependent gene in the absence of Adr1 protein synthesis, and a requirement for the kinase Snf1 for Adr1 DNA-binding. A fusion protein with the Adr1 DNA-binding domain and a heterologous activation domain is glucose-regulated, suggesting that the DNA binding region is the target of regulation.

Artificial recruitment of mediator by the DNA-binding domain of Adr1 overcomes glucose repression of ADH2 expression.

The transcription factor Adr1 activates numerous genes in nonfermentable carbon source metabolism. An unknown mechanism prevents Adr1 from stably binding to the promoters of these genes in glucose-grown cells. Glucose depletion leads to Snf1-dependent binding.

A poised initiation complex is activated by SNF1.

Snf1, the yeast AMP kinase homolog, is essential for derepression of glucose-repressed genes that are activated by Adr1. Although required for Adr1 DNA binding, the precise role of Snf1 is unknown. Deletion of histone deacetylase genes allowed constitutive promoter binding of Adr1 and Cat8, another activator of glucose-repressed genes.

Endoplasmic reticulum-associated degradation is required for cold adaptation and regulation of sterol biosynthesis in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Endoplasmic reticulum-associated degradation (ERAD) mediates the turnover of short-lived and misfolded proteins in the ER membrane or lumen. In spite of its important role, only subtle growth phenotypes have been associated with defects in ERAD. We have discovered that the ERAD proteins Ubc7 (Qri8), Cue1, and Doa10 (Ssm4) are required for growth of yeast that express high levels of the sterol biosynthetic enzyme, 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase (HMGR).

Snf1-dependent and Snf1-independent pathways of constitutive ADH2 expression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The transcription factor Adr1 directly activates the expression of genes encoding enzymes in numerous pathways that are upregulated after the exhaustion of glucose in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. ADH2, encoding the alcohol dehydrogenase isozyme required for ethanol oxidation, is a highly glucose-repressed, Adr1-dependent gene. Using a genetic screen we isolated >100 mutants in 12 complementation groups that exhibit ADR1-dependent constitutive ADH2 expression on glucose.

Combined global localization analysis and transcriptome data identify genes that are directly coregulated by Adr1 and Cat8.

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, glucose depletion causes a profound alteration in metabolism, mediated in part by global transcriptional changes. Many of the transcription factors that regulate these changes act combinatorially. We have analyzed combinatorial regulation by Adr1 and Cat8, two transcription factors that act during glucose depletion, by combining genome-wide expression and genome-wide binding data.

Monitoring disulfide bond formation in the eukaryotic cytosol.

Glutathione is the most abundant low molecular weight thiol in the eukaryotic cytosol. The compartment-specific ratio and absolute concentrations of reduced and oxidized glutathione (GSH and GSSG, respectively) are, however, not easily determined. Here, we present a glutathione-specific green fluorescent protein-based redox probe termed redox sensitive YFP (rxYFP).

Gene regulation in response to protein disulphide isomerase deficiency.

We have examined the activities of promoters of a number of yeast genes encoding resident endoplasmic reticulum proteins, and found increased expression in a strain with severe protein disulphide isomerase deficiency. Serial deletion in the promoter of the MPD1 gene, which encodes a PDI1-homologue, revealed a cis-acting element responding to deficiency of protein disulphide isomerase activity (designated CERP). The presence of the sequence element is necessary and sufficient for the upregulation in response to disulphide isomerase deficiency, as measured by a minimal promoter containing the CERP element.