Analysis of the alpha-amylase gene of Schwanniomyces occidentalis and the secretion of its gene product in transformants of different yeast genera

The spatial distribution of the hydrophobic side chains in globular proteins is of considerable interest. It was recognized previously that most of the alpha-helices of myoglobin and haemoglobin are amphiphilic; that is, one surface of each helix projects mainly hydrophilic side chains, while the opposite surface projects mainly hydrophobic side chains. To quantify the amphiphilicity of a helix, here we define the mean helical hydrophobic moment, (mu H) = [sigma Ni = 1Hi]/N, to be the mean vector sum of the hydrophobicities Hi of the side chains of a helix of N residues. The length of a vector Hi is the signed numerical hydrophobicity associated with the type of side chain, and its direction is determined by the orientation of the side chain about the helix axis. A large value of (mu H) means that the helix is amphiphilic perpendicular to its axis. We have classified alpha-helices by plotting their mean helical moment versus the mean hydrophobicity of their residues, and report that transmembrane helices, helices from globular proteins and helices which are believed to seek surfaces between aqueous and nonpolar phases, cluster in different regions of such a plot. We suggest that this classification may be useful in identifying helical regions of proteins which bind to the surface of biological membranes. The concept of the hydrophobic moment can be generalized also to non-helical protein structures.

The cyc1-512 mutation is a 38 base pair deletion in the 3' nontranslated region of the CYC1 locus in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The deletion occurred between two 7 bp directly repeated sequences. The cyc1-512 mutant produces approximately 10% of the normal amount of the CYC1 gene product, iso-1-cytochrome c, and produces 5%--10% of the normal steady-state amount of CYC1 mRNA. Most of the mRNAs in cyc1-512 are longer at their 3' ends by up to 1000 nucleotides, suggesting that the 38 bp deletion in cyc1-512 prevents proper transcription termination. The improper transcription termination is shown to cause converging transcription between CYC1 and an adjacent gene. The fact that all of the aberrantly sized mRNAs in cyc1-512 are polyadenylated leads us to suggest that polyadenylation may be coupled to transcription termination in yeast. We have uncovered a consensus sequence between the region deleted in cyc1-512 and the 3' nontranslated regions of some but not all yeast genes, and discuss the possible role of this sequence in transcription termination.