Inorganic sulfur fixation via a new homocysteine synthase allows yeast cells to cooperatively compensate for methionine auxotrophy
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
The assimilation, incorporation, and metabolism of sulfur is a fundamental process across all domains of life, yet how cells deal with varying sulfur availability is not well understood. We studied an unresolved conundrum of sulfur fixation in yeast, in which organosulfur auxotrophy caused by deletion of the homocysteine synthase Met17p is overcome when cells are inoculated at high cell density. In combining the use of self-establishing metabolically cooperating (SeMeCo) communities with proteomic, genetic, and biochemical approaches, we discovered an uncharacterized gene product YLL058Wp, herein named Hydrogen Sulfide Utilizing-1 (HSU1). Hsu1p acts as a homocysteine synthase and allows the cells to substitute for Met17p by reassimilating hydrosulfide ions leaked from met17Δ cells into O-acetyl-homoserine and forming homocysteine. Our results show that cells can cooperate to achieve sulfur fixation, indicating that the collective properties of microbial communities facilitate their basic metabolic capacity to overcome sulfur limitation.
Editor(s)
Siegal, Mark L
Date Issued
2022-12-01
Date Acceptance
2022-11-14
Citation
PLoS Biology, 2022, 20 (12)
ISSN
1544-9173
Publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Journal / Book Title
PLoS Biology
Volume
20
Issue
12
Copyright Statement
© 2022 Yu et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
License URL
Identifier
10.1371/journal.pbio.3001912
Subjects
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Sulfur
Cysteine
Cysteine Synthase
Methionine
Proteomics
Racemethionine
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
e3001912
Date Publish Online
2022-12-01