Sensitivity to treatment with polyunsaturated fatty acids is a general characteristic of the ubiquinone-deficient yeast coq mutants

Mol Aspects Med. 1997:18 Suppl:S121-7. doi: 10.1016/s0098-2997(97)00004-6.

Abstract

The biosynthesis of ubiquinone (Q) and the functional consequences of Q-deficiency was studied in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Lipid extracts were prepared from various respiratory deficient mutants grown in the presence of p-[U-14C]hydroxybenzoic acid. Q mutant strains harboring mutations in the coq3, coq4, coq5, coq6, coq7, or coq8 genes were unable to produce Q and accumulated an early intermediated that corresponded to 3-hexaprenyl-4-hydroxybenzoic acid. Several respiratory deficient yeast including both nuclear and mitochondrial petite mutant strains, retain the ability to produce Q. Thus, the inability to produce Q is a specific phenotype manifested in the class of mutants termed 'coq'. Previous studies described the enhanced sensitivity of the Q-deficient yeast strain containing a deletion in the COQ3 gene to the products of autoxidized polyunsaturated fatty acids (Do et al., 1996, Proceeding of the National Academy of Science USA, 93, 7534-7539). The results presented here show this to be a general phenotype resulting from Q-deficiency, as all of the coq mutant yeast strains tested exhibit hypersensitivity to polyunsaturated fatty acid treatment.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Electron Transport / genetics
  • Fatty Acids, Unsaturated / pharmacology*
  • Genes, Fungal*
  • Hydroxybenzoates / metabolism*
  • Mitochondria / metabolism
  • Oleic Acid / pharmacology
  • Oxidation-Reduction
  • Phenotype
  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae / drug effects
  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae / genetics
  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae / metabolism*
  • Triterpenes / metabolism*
  • Ubiquinone / biosynthesis*
  • alpha-Linolenic Acid / pharmacology

Substances

  • Fatty Acids, Unsaturated
  • Hydroxybenzoates
  • Triterpenes
  • alpha-Linolenic Acid
  • Ubiquinone
  • Oleic Acid
  • 3-hexaprenyl-4-hydroxybenzoic acid