Yarrowia lipolytica: a model organism for protein secretion studies

This paper reviews the advantages of the yeast Yarrowia lipolytica as a tool in the study of protein secretion. Work has been focused on the early steps leading the polypeptide, from the cytoplasmic ribosomes where it is synthesized, to the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum. Using a thermosensitive allele of the 7SL RNA, the first in vivo evidence for a co-translational translocation was shown. Genetic screens allowed the identification of several new components of the translocation apparatus: Sls1p, an ER lumenal component involved in both translocation and lumenal transit; Tsr1p, involved in SRP-ribosome targeting; Tsr3p. Major translocation partners were also identified by reverse genetics (Sec61p, Sec62p, Kar2p, Srp54p, Sec65p).