Drug Resistance In Yeast Research Articles

Multiple-drug-resistance phenomenon in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae: involvement of two hexose transporters.

In the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, multidrug resistance to unrelated chemicals can result from overexpression of ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters such as Pdr5p, Snq2p, and Yor1p. Expression of these genes is under the control of two homologous zinc finger-containing transcription regulators, Pdr1p and Pdr3p. Here, we describe the isolation, by an in vivo screen, of two new Pdr1p-Pdr3p target genes: HXT11 and HXT9. HXT11 and HXT9, encoding nearly identical proteins, have a high degree of identity to monosaccharide transporters of the major facilitator superfamily (MFS). In this study, we show that the HXT11 product, which allows glucose uptake in a glucose permease mutant (rag1) strain of Kluyveromyces lactis, is also involved in the pleiotropic drug resistance process. Loss of HXT11 and/or HXT9 confers cycloheximide, sulfomethuron methyl, and 4-NQO (4-nitroquinoline-N-oxide) resistance. Conversely, HXT11 overexpression increases sensitivity to these drugs in the wild-type strain, an effect which is more pronounced in a strain having both PDR1 and PDR3 deleted. These data show that the two putative hexose transporters Hxt11p and Hxt9p are transcriptionally regulated by the transcription factors Pdr1p and Pdr3p, which are known to regulate the production of ABC transporters required for drug resistance in yeast. We thus demonstrate the existence of genetic interactions between genes coding for two classes of transporters (ABC and MFS) to control the multidrug resistance process.

Azole drug resistance in yeasts.

Azole drug resistance in yeasts.

Interaction of the yeast pleiotropic drug resistance genes PDR1 and PDR5.

The network of genes which mediates multiple drug resistance in yeast includes, among others, the PDR1 gene, which encodes a putative regulator of gene expression, and PDR5, a locus whose amplification leads to resistance. We demonstrate that disruption of PDR5 causes marked hypersensitivity not only to cycloheximide but also to sulphometuron methyl and the mitochondrial inhibitors chloramphenicol, lincomycin, erythromycin and antimycin. Genetic analysis of double mutants containing an insertion in PDR5 (pdr5:Tn5), which renders cells hypersensitive to cycloheximide, and a pdr1 mutation, which confers resistance to this inhibitor, indicates that the expression of resistance requires a functional PDR5 gene. The same interdependency is observed for chloramphenicol, but not for oligomycin, lincomycin, erythromycin or sulphometuron methyl. Northern analysis of PDR1 and PDR5 transcripts reveals that the 5.2 kbp PDR5 transcript is overexpressed in pdr1 (resistant) mutants, but underexpressed in a disruption of PDR1. These observations provide strong experimental support for our former proposal that the PDR5 gene is a target for regulation by the PDR1 gene product.

The viscosity and lipid composition of the plasma membrane of multiple drug resistant and sensitive yeast strains

Four different plasma membrane preparations were isolated from multiple drug resistant and sensitive isolates of two isogenic groups of Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains: zymolyase ghosts, concanavalin A ghosts, pH 4 nonaggregated vesicles, and sucrose-gradient purified vesicles. The viscosities of these preparations were determined by the use of a fluorescence polarization technique with 1,6-diphenyl-1,3,5-hexatriene. The viscosities of all four membrane preparations within an isogenic set were the same for resistant and sensitive strains. A comparison of the viscosity of zymolyase ghost liposomes showed that zymolyase ghost (glyco) proteins of resistant and sensitive strains had the same effect on viscosity. There was no difference between resistant and sensitive isolates in the mole concentration of the following lipid classes extracted from zymolyase ghosts: phospholipid, sterol, sterol ester, triglyceride, diglyceride, and free fatty acid. The fatty acid distribution of esterified and free fatty acids and the distribution of nine phospholipids was the same in zymolyase ghosts from sensitive and resistant strains. It was concluded that multiple drug resistance does not result from an alteration in plasma membrane viscosity or lipid composition.