Regulation of Alr1 Mg Transporter Activity by Intracellular Magnesium

Mg homeostasis is critical to eukaryotic cells, but the contribution of Mg transporter activity to homeostasis is not fully understood. In yeast, Mg uptake is primarily mediated by the Alr1 transporter, which also allows low affinity uptake of other divalent cations such as Ni2+, Mn2+, Zn2+ and Co2+. Using Ni2+ uptake to assay Alr1 activity, we observed approximately nine-fold more activity under Mg-deficient conditions. The mnr2 mutation, which is thought to block release of vacuolar Mg stores, was associated with increased Alr1 activity, suggesting Alr1 was regulated by intracellular Mg supply. Consistent with a previous report of the regulation of Alr1 expression by Mg supply, Mg deficiency and the mnr2 mutation both increased the accumulation of a carboxy-terminal epitope-tagged version of the Alr1 protein (Alr1-HA). However, Mg supply had little effect on ALR1 promoter activity or mRNA levels. In addition, while Mg deficiency caused a seven-fold increase in Alr1-HA accumulation, the N-terminally tagged and untagged Alr1 proteins increased less than two-fold. These observations argue that the Mg-dependent accumulation of the C-terminal epitope-tagged protein was primarily an artifact of its modification. Plasma membrane localization of YFP-tagged Alr1 was also unaffected by Mg supply, indicating that a change in Alr1 location did not explain the increased activity we observed. We conclude that variation in Alr1 protein accumulation or location does not make a substantial contribution to its regulation by Mg supply, suggesting Alr1 activity is directly regulated via as yet unknown mechanisms

Turkish population data for 15 STR loci by multiplex PCR

POPULATION: 500 unrelated individuals front Turkey

Nickel resistance in fission yeast associated with the magnesium transport system

We isolated and characterized a nickel (Ni2+)-resistant mutant (GAI) of Schizosaccharomyces pombe. This mutant strain displayed resistance to both Ni2+ and Zn2+, but not to Cd2+, Co2+, and CU2+. The growth rate of GAI increased proportionally with increasing Mg2+ concentrations until 50 nM Mg2+. The GAI mutation phenotype Suggests a defect in Mg2+ uptake. Sequence analysis of the GAI open reading frame (ORF) 013779, which is homologous to the prokaryotic and eukaryotic CorA Mg2+ transport systems, revealed a point mutation at codon 153 (ccc to ace) resulting in a Pro 153Thr substitution in the N-terminus of the CorA domain. Our results provide novel genetic information about Ni2+ resistance in fission yeast. Specifically, that reducing Mg2+ influx through the CorA Mg2+ transport membrane protein confers Ni2+ resistance in S. pombe. We also report that Ni2+ ion detoxification of the fission yeast is related to histidine metabolism and pH