The Saccharomyces cerevisiae mevalonate diphosphate decarboxylase (Erg19p)forms homodimers in vivo, and a single substitution in a structurally conserved region impairs dimerization
H. Cordier et al., The Saccharomyces cerevisiae mevalonate diphosphate decarboxylase (Erg19p)forms homodimers in vivo, and a single substitution in a structurally conserved region impairs dimerization, CURR MICROB, 38(5), 1999, pp. 290-294
The wild-type ERG19 gene of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae encoding mev
alonate diphosphate decarboxylase (MVD) and the mutated recessive erg19-34
allele leading to a decrease of sterol production and to a thermosensitive
phenotype have been characterized [2]. The mutated erg19-34 allele bears a
single amino acid leucine79-to-proline (L79P) substitution. It was shown th
at this mutation does not affect the level of production of the enzyme. We
performed a two-hybrid assay to show that the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisia
e MVD forms homodimers in vivo and that the single point mutation drastical
ly impairs the oligomerization of the protein, thereby explaining the defic
iency of MVD activity observed in the temperature-sensitive strain.