Systematic analysis of yeast strains with possible defects in lipid metabolism

Lipids are essential components of all living cells because they are obligate components of biological membranes, and serve as energy reserves and second messengers. Many but not all genes encoding enzymes involved in fatty acid, phospholipid, sterol or sphingolipid biosynthesis of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae have been cloned and gene products have been functionally characterized. Less information is available about genes and gene products governing the transport of lipids between organelles and within membranes or the turnover and degradation of complex lipids. To obtain more insight into lipid metabolism, regulation of lipid biosynthesis and the role of lipids in organellar membranes, a group of five European laboratories established methods suitable to screen for novel genes of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae involved in these processes. These investigations were performed within EUROFAN (European Function Analysis Network), a European initiative to identify the functions of unassigned open reading frames that had been detected during the Yeast Genome Sequencing Project. First, the methods required for the complete lipid analysis of yeast cells based on chromatographic techniques were established and standardized. The reliability of these methods was demonstrated using tester strains with established defects in lipid metabolism. During these investigations it was demonstrated that different wild-type strains, among them FY1679, CEN.PK2-1C and W303, exhibit marked differences in lipid content and lipid composition. Second, several candidate genes which were assumed to encode proteins involved in lipid metabolism were selected, based on their homology to genes of known function. Finally, lipid composition of mutant strains deleted of the respective open reading frames was determined. For some genes we found evidence suggesting a possible role in lipid metabolism.