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Title: THE IDENTIFICATION OF THE SACCHAROMYCES CEREVISIAE GENE AYT1 (ORF-YLL063C) ENCODING AN ACETYLTRANSFERASE

Author
item Alexander, Nancy
item McCormick, Susan

Submitted to: Yeast
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/30/2002
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: The mold Fusarium is a common contaminant of grain and other livestock feeds. Crops infected with this mold have substantial yield loss. The quality of the grain is adversely affected when the mold produces toxins, such as T-2 toxin and vomitoxin, both of which are harmful to humans and animals. In our attempt to reduce the production of toxin by these molds, we are studying the pathway by which the toxins are made. We previously found a gene that protects the mold from its own toxins while they are being made. In this study, we have characterized a similar gene found in yeast.

Technical Abstract: Our recent isolation and characterization of Tri101 in Fusarium sporotrichioides (McCormick et al. 1999) has led to the functional identification of the yeast open reading frame (ORF) YLL063c, located on chromosome XII of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The sequence of YLL063c predicts a protein of 474 residues that has 45% identify and 70% similarity to FsTri101. FsTri101 encodes a trichothecene 3-O-acetyltransferase that functions in the trichothecene biosynthesis. Low levels of trichothecene 3-O-acetyltransferase activity were detected in the lab yeast strain, RW2802. No activity was found in RW2802 transformed with an integrative plasmid carrying a disrupted YLL063c gene. Based on these results which show structural and functional similarities between YLL063c and FsTri101, we propose that YLL063c encodes an acetyltransferase capable of trichothecene 3-O-acetylation and have named this gene AYT1.