The Schizosaccharomyces pombe cho1+ gene encodes a phospholipid methyltransferase

The isolation of mutants of Schizosaccharomyces pombe defective in the synthesis of phosphatidylcholine via the methylation of phosphatidylethanolamine is reported. These mutants are choline auxotrophs and fall into two unlinked complementation groups, cho1 and cho2. We also report the analysis of the cho1+ gene, the first structural gene encoding a phospholipid biosynthetic enzyme from S. pombe to be cloned and characterized. The cho1+ gene disruption mutant (cho1Delta) is viable if choline is supplied and resembles the cho1 mutants isolated after mutagenesis. Sequence analysis of the cho1+ gene indicates that it encodes a protein closely related to phospholipid methyltransferases from Saccharomyces cerevisiae and rat. Phospholipid methyltransferases encoded by a rat liver cDNA and the S. cerevisiae OPI3 gene are both able to complement the choline auxotrophy of the S. pombe cho1 mutants. These results suggest that both the structure and function of the phospholipid N-methyltransferases are broadly conserved among eukaryotic organisms.