Relationships between cell cycle regulator gene copy numbers and protein expression levels in Schizosaccharomyces pombe

PLoS One. 2013 Sep 3;8(9):e73319. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0073319. eCollection 2013.

Abstract

We previously determined the copy number limits of overexpression for cell division cycle (cdc) regulatory genes in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe using the "genetic tug-of-war" (gTOW) method. In this study, we measured the levels of tandem affinity purification (TAP)-tagged target proteins when their copy numbers are increased in gTOW. Twenty analyzed genes showed roughly linear correlations between increased protein levels and gene copy numbers, which suggested a general lack of compensation for gene dosage in S. pombe. Cdc16 and Sid2 protein levels but not their mRNA levels were much lower than that expected by their copy numbers, which suggested the existence of a post-transcriptional down regulation of these genes. The cyclin Cig1 protein level and its mRNA level were much higher than that expected by its copy numbers, which suggested a positive feedback mechanism for its expression. A higher Cdc10 protein level and its mRNA level, probably due to cloning its gene into a plasmid, indicated that Cdc10 regulation was more robust than that previously predicted.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Gene Dosage*
  • Genes, Fungal*
  • Genes, cdc*
  • Plasmids
  • RNA, Messenger / genetics
  • Schizosaccharomyces / genetics
  • Schizosaccharomyces / metabolism*
  • Schizosaccharomyces pombe Proteins / genetics
  • Schizosaccharomyces pombe Proteins / metabolism*

Substances

  • RNA, Messenger
  • Schizosaccharomyces pombe Proteins

Grant support

This work was supported in part by the Strategic International Cooperative Program of Japan Science and Technology Agency; the Special Coordination Fund for Promoting Sciences and Technology; Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas "The Physicochemical Field for Genetic Activities" of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology; and Grants in aid for strategic research promotion by Okayama University. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.