Labelling and Visualization of Mitochondrial Genome Expression Products in Baker's Yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Summary

Baker’s yeast mitochondrial genome encodes eight polypeptides. The goal of the current protocol is to label all of them and subsequently visualize them as separate bands.

Abstract

Mitochondria are essential organelles of eukaryotic cells capable of aerobic respiration. They contain circular genome and gene expression apparatus. A mitochondrial genome of baker’s yeast encodes eight proteins: three subunits of the cytochrome c oxidase (Cox1p, Cox2p, and Cox3p), three subunits of the ATP synthase (Atp6p, Atp8p, and Atp9p), a subunit of the ubiquinol-cytochrome c oxidoreductase enzyme, cytochrome b (Cytb), and mitochondrial ribosomal protein Var1p. The purpose of the method described here is to specifically label these proteins with ³⁵S methionine, separate them by electrophoresis and visualize the signals as discrete bands on the screen. The procedure involves several steps. First, yeast cells are cultured in a galactose-containing medium until they reach the late logarithmic growth stage. Next, cycloheximide treatment blocks cytoplasmic translation and allows ³⁵S methionine incorporation only in mitochondrial translation products. Then, all proteins are extracted from yeast cells and separated by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Finally, the gel is dried and incubated with the storage phosphor screen. The screen is scanned on a phosphorimager revealing the bands. The method can be applied to compare the biosynthesis rate of a single polypeptide in the mitochondria of a mutant yeast strain versus the wild type, which is useful for studying mitochondrial gene expression defects. This protocol gives valuable information about the translation rate of all yeast mitochondrial mRNAs. However, it requires several controls and additional experiments to make proper conclusions.

Introduction

Mitochondria are the organelles deeply involved in the metabolism of a eukaryotic cell. Their electron transfer chain supplies the cell with ATP, the main energetic currency used in multiple biochemical pathways. Besides, they are involved in apoptosis, fatty acid and heme synthesis, and other processes. Dysfunction of mitochondria is a well-known source of human disease¹. It can result from mutations in nuclear or mitochondrial genes encoding structural or regulatory components of the organelles². Baker’s yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is an excellent model organism for studying mitochondrial gene express....

Protocol

1. Yeast culture preparation

1. Streak yeast from the frozen stock cultures on fresh plates with the appropriate medium. Put the plates in a culture incubator at 30 °C for 24–48 h.
   NOTE: Let the temperature-sensitive mutants grow at the permissive temperature.
2. Inoculate yeast cultures in 2 mL of YPGal medium (2% peptone, 1% yeast extract, 2% galactose) from the fresh streak in 15 mL tubes and incubate them overnight agitating at 200 rpm at 30 °C.
3. Measure the optical density of the culture at a wavelength of 600 nm (OD₆₀₀).
4. Take the volume corresponding to 0.2 absorbance units in sterile tubes, pe....

Results

Following the protocol described above, we assigned mitochondrial translation products from two S. cerevisiae strains: the wild type (WT) and a mutant bearing deletion of the AIM23 gene (AIM23Δ), encoding mitochondrial translation initiation factor 3 (Table 1)⁸. Mitochondrial translation products were radioactively labeled and separated in SDS-PAAG9. The samples were collected every 2.5 min before saturation to build a time course (

Discussion

Investigations of gene expression occupy a central part in modern life sciences. Numerous methods providing insights into this complex process have been developed. Here, we described the method allowing to access protein biosynthesis in baker's yeast S. cerevisiae mitochondria. It is usually applied to compare translation efficiencies of the mRNAs in mitochondria of mutant yeast strain versus wild type to access the consequences of the studied mutation. This is one of the basic experiments the researchers co.......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
2-Mercaptoethanol	Sigma-Aldrich	M3148
Acrylamide	Sigma-Aldrich	A9099
Ammonium persulfate	Sigma-Aldrich	A3678
Bacteriological agar	Sigma-Aldrich	A5306
Biowave Cell Density Meter CO8000	BIOCHROM US BE	80-3000-45
BRAND standard disposable cuvettes	Sigma-Aldrich	Z330361
chloroform	Sigma-Aldrich	288306
cycloheximide	Sigma-Aldrich	C1988
D-(+)-Galactose	Sigma-Aldrich	G5388
D-(+)-Glucose	Sigma-Aldrich	G7021
digital block heater	Thermo Scientific	88870001
EasyTag L-[35S]-Methionine, 500µCi (18.5MBq), Stabilized Aqueous Solution	Perkin Elmer	NEG709A500UC
Eppendorf Centrifuge 5425	Thermo Scientific	13-864-457
GE Storage Phosphor Screens	Sigma-Aldrich	GE29-0171-33
L-methionine	Sigma-Aldrich	M9625
methanol	Sigma-Aldrich	34860
N,N,N′,N′-Tetramethylethylenediamine	Sigma-Aldrich	T9281
N,N′-Methylenebisacrylamide	Sigma-Aldrich	M7279
New Brunswick Innova 44/44R Shaker Incubator	New Brunswick Scientific
Peptone from meat, bacteriological	Millipore	91249
Phenylmethanesulfonyl fluoride	Sigma-Aldrich	P7626
Pierce 660nm Protein Assay Kit	Thermo Scientific	22662
PowerPac Basic Power Supply	Bio-Rad	1645050
Protean II xi cell	Bio-Rad	1651802
Puromycin dihydrochloride from Streptomyces alboniger	Sigma-Aldrich	P8833
Sodium hydroxide	Sigma-Aldrich	221465
Storm 865 phosphor imager	GE Healthcare
Trizma base	Sigma-Aldrich	93352
Vacuum Heated Gel Dryer	Cleaver Scientific	CSL-GDVH
Yeast extract	Sigma-Aldrich	Y1625