Crow Emily, Du Zhiqiang, Li Liming
Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Biological Chemistry, The Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois 60611, USA.
Prion. 2008 Oct-Dec;2(4):141-4. doi: 10.4161/pri.2.4.8069.
Our laboratory recently reported a novel prion [SWI+], in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. [SWI+] is the prion form of Swi1, a component of the SWI/SNF chromatin-remodeling complex. Cells harboring [SWI+] exhibit a partial loss-of-function phenotype for SWI/SNF, which can be easily assayed by poor growth on some non-fermentable carbon sources such as raffinose.Swi1 is unique among yeast prion proteins for its nuclear localization and the fact that it comprises part of a large, multi-subunit protein complex. The discovery of [SWI+] demonstrates for the first time a link between prion function and chromatin remodeling,implying a possible role for prions in gene regulation. We believe that the unique features of this novel yeast prion will provide new insight into prion biology.
我们实验室最近报道了在出芽酵母酿酒酵母中发现的一种新型朊病毒[SWI+]。[SWI+]是SWI/SNF染色质重塑复合体的一个组成部分Swi1的朊病毒形式。携带[SWI+]的细胞表现出SWI/SNF的部分功能丧失表型,这可以通过在一些非发酵碳源(如棉子糖)上生长不良来轻松检测。Swi1在酵母朊病毒蛋白中是独特的,因其具有核定位,且它是一个大型多亚基蛋白复合体的一部分。[SWI+]的发现首次证明了朊病毒功能与染色质重塑之间的联系,这意味着朊病毒在基因调控中可能发挥作用。我们相信这种新型酵母朊病毒的独特特性将为朊病毒生物学提供新的见解。