High impact information on IME4

• Thus, IME4 appears to activate IME1 in response to cell type and nutritional signals [1].
• The IME4 transcript was induced in starved MATa/MAT alpha diploids but not in other cell types [1].
• IME4 is located between ADE5 and LYS5 on chromosome VII [1].
• IME4, a gene that mediates MAT and nutritional control of meiosis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae [1].
• Defects associated with rim1, mck1, and ime4 mutations in expression of a meiotic reporter gene (ime2-lacZ) and in sporulation are additive [2].

Biological context of IME4

• This observation led to the hypothesis that yeast sporulation may be dependent upon methylation of yeast mRNA, mediated by Ime4p [3].
• Moreover, single amino acid substitutions in the putative catalytic residues of Ime4p lead to severe sporulation defects in a strain whose sporulation ability is completely dependent on this protein [3].

Associations of IME4 with chemical compounds

• We found that a diploid-specific IME4 gene encoding an RNA-modifying protein was responsible for the suppression of the temperature sensitivity, but not of the HU sensitivity [4].
• Induction of sporulation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae leads to the formation of N6-methyladenosine in mRNA: a potential mechanism for the activity of the IME4 gene [3].

Other interactions of IME4

• Under identical experimental conditions, expression of the MCKI and IME4 genes (which promote sporulation but do not require Ime1p for expression) was not affected [5].
• Thus, these Ime4 and Puf4 proteins play complementary roles to rescue the defects in Deltampt5 Deltasir cells [4].
• These two genes are (with SPO7, SPO8, and SPO9) among the earliest identified in the sporulation pathway and may interact directly with the positive and negative regulators RME and IME [6].

References