The Journal of General and Applied Microbiology
Online ISSN : 1349-8037
Print ISSN : 0022-1260
ISSN-L : 0022-1260
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Morphology and protein composition of the mitochondrial nucleoids in yeast cells lacking Abf2p, a high mobility group protein
Isamu MiyakawaMiwako KanayamaYuka FujitaHiroshi Sato
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2010 Volume 56 Issue 6 Pages 455-464

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Abstract
To elucidate the role of Abf2p, a major mitochondrial DNA-binding protein in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, we examined the morphology of the mitochondrial nucleoids (mt-nucleoids) in an ABF2-deficient mutant (Δabf2) in vivo and in vitro by 4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) staining. The mt-nucleoids appeared as diffuse structures with irregular-size in Δabf2 cells that were grown to log phase in YPG medium containing glycerol, in contrast to the strings-of-beads appearance of mt-nucleoids in wild-type cells. In addition, DAPI-fluorescence intensity of the mt-nucleoids transmitted to the bud was significantly lower in Δabf2 cells than in wild-type cells at log phase. However, the lack of Abf2p did not affect the morphology or segregation of mitochondria. The protein composition of the mt-nucleoids isolated from Δabf2 cells grown to stationary phase in YPG medium was very similar to that of the mt-nucleoids isolated from wild-type cells cultured under the same conditions, except for the lack of Abf2p. These results together suggested that in log-phase cells, the lack of Abf2p influences not only the morphology of mt-nucleoids but also their transmission into the bud. On the other hand, our result suggested that in stationary-phase cells, the lack of Abf2p does not significantly alter the protein composition of the mt-nucleoids.
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© 2010 by The Applied Microbiology, Molecular and Cellular Biosciences Research Foundation
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