Small heat shock protein suppression of Vpr-induced cytoskeletal defects in budding yeast

Expression of the auxiliary human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) protein Vpr causes arrest of primate host cells in G2. Expression of this protein in budding yeast has been previously reported to cause growth arrest and a large-cell phenotype. Investigation of the effect of Vpr expression in budding yeast, reported here, showed that it causes disruption of the actin cytoskeleton. Expression of HSP42, the gene for a small heat shock protein (sHSP), from a high-copy-number plasmid reversed this effect. The sHSPs are induced by exposure of cells to thermal, osmotic, and oxidative stresses and to mitogens. In animal cells, overexpression of sHSPs causes increased resistance to stress and stabilization of actin stress fibers. Yeast cells subjected to mild stress, such as shifting from 23 to 39 degrees C, arrest growth and then resume cell division. Growth arrest is accompanied by transient disorganization of the cytoskeleton. Yeast in which the HSP42 gene was disrupted and which was subjected to moderate thermal stress reorganized the actin cytoskeleton more slowly than did wild-type control cells. These results demonstrate that in yeast, as in metazoan cells, sHSPs promote maintenance of the actin cytoskeleton.