Identification of novel arsenic resistance genes in yeast
Journal article, 2022

Arsenic is a toxic metalloid that affects human health by causing numerous diseases and by being used in the treatment of acute promyelocytic leukemia. Saccharomyces cerevisiae (budding yeast) has been extensively utilized to elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying arsenic toxicity and resistance in eukaryotes. In this study, we applied a genomic DNA overexpression strategy to identify yeast genes that provide arsenic resistance in wild-type and arsenic-sensitive S. cerevisiae cells. In addition to known arsenic-related genes, our genetic screen revealed novel genes, including PHO86, VBA3, UGP1, and TUL1, whose overexpression conferred resistance. To gain insights into possible resistance mechanisms, we addressed the contribution of these genes to cell growth, intracellular arsenic, and protein aggregation during arsenate exposure. Overexpression of PHO86 resulted in higher cellular arsenic levels but no additional effect on protein aggregation, indicating that these cells efficiently protect their intracellular environment. VBA3 overexpression caused resistance despite higher intracellular arsenic and protein aggregation levels. Overexpression of UGP1 led to lower intracellular arsenic and protein aggregation levels while TUL1 overexpression had no impact on intracellular arsenic or protein aggregation levels. Thus, the identified genes appear to confer arsenic resistance through distinct mechanisms but the molecular details remain to be elucidated.

Pho86

arsenate

Ugp1

arsenite

Tul1

Vba3

Author

Esin Isik

İzmir Institute of Technology (IZ -TECH)

Cigdem Balkan

İzmir Institute of Technology (IZ -TECH)

Vivien Karl

University of Gothenburg

Huseyin Caglar Karakaya

İzmir Institute of Technology (IZ -TECH)

Sansan Hua

University of Gothenburg

Sebastien Rauch

Chalmers, Architecture and Civil Engineering, Water Environment Technology

Markus J. Tamas

University of Gothenburg

Ahmet Koc

Inonu University

İzmir Institute of Technology (IZ -TECH)

MicrobiologyOpen

20458827 (eISSN)

Vol. 11 3 e1284

Subject Categories

Microbiology

Microbiology in the medical area

DOI

10.1002/mbo3.1284

PubMed

35765185

More information

Latest update

5/12/2022