| Title | LAMMER Kinase Governs the Expression and Cellular Localization of Gas2, a Key Regulator of Flocculation in Schizosaccharomyces pombe |
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| Author | Won‑Hwa Kang1,2, Yoon‑Dong Park1,3, Joo‑Yeon Lim1,4, and Hee‑Moon Park1* |
| Address | 1Department of Microbiology and Molecular Biology, College of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Chungnam National University, Daejeon 34134, Republic of Korea, 2Present Address: Y-Biologics Co. Ltd., Daejeon 34013, Republic of Korea, 3Present Address: Laboratory of Clinical Immunology and Microbiology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA, 4Present Address: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Indiana University School of Medicine-Terre Haute, Terre Haute, IN 47809, USA |
| Bibliography | Journal of Microbiology, 62(1),21-31, 2024, |
| DOI | 10.1007/s12275-023-00097-7 |
| Key Words | Gas2 · 1,3-β-glucanosyl transferase · LAMMER kinase · Lkh1 · Flocculation · Localization |
| Abstract | It was reported that LAMMER kinase in Schizosaccharomyces pombe plays an important role in cation-dependent and galactose-specific flocculation. Analogous to other flocculating yeasts, when cell wall extracts of the Δlkh1 strain were treated to the wild-type strain, it displayed flocculation. Gas2, a 1,3-β-glucanosyl transferase, was isolated from the EDTA-extracted cell-surface proteins in the Δlkh1 strain. While disruption of the gas2+ gene was not lethal and reduced the flocculation activity of the Δlkh1 strain, the expression of a secreted form of Gas2, in which the GPI anchor addition sequences had been removed, conferred the ability to flocculate upon the WT strain. The Gas2-mediated flocculation was strongly inhibited by galactose but not by glucose. Immunostaining analysis showed that the cell surface localization of Gas2 was crucial for the flocculation of fission yeast. In addition, we identified the regulation of mbx2+ expression by Lkh1 using RT-qPCR. Taken together, we found that Lkh1 induces asexual flocculation by regulating not only the localization of Gas2 but also the transcription of gas2+ through Mbx2. |