High impact information on FUS2

• We found that polarisome components and the cell fusion proteins Fus1 and Fus2 are important for the termination of projection growth [1].
• Based on double mutant analysis, AXL1 in a MATalpha strain acted genetically in the same pathway with FUS2, a fusion-dedicated gene [2].
• Rvs161p interacts with Fus2p to promote cell fusion in Saccharomyces cerevisiae [3].
• FUS2 encodes a unique open reading frame of 617 residues that only is expressed in haploid cells in response to mating pheromone [4].
• These, and other results suggest that Fus2 defines a novel cell fusion function and subcellular structure that is also required for the alignment of parental nuclei before nuclear fusion [4].

Biological context of FUS2

• Genetic evidence suggests that the FUS2 gene product promotes cell fusion during zygote formation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, functioning with the Fus1 plasma membrane protein at or before cell wall and plasma membrane fusion [4].
• These include: an obscure subfamily of globins in the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans ; two new superfamilies of metallohydrolases; a lipoyl/biotin swinging arm domain in bacterial membrane fusion proteins; and a DH domain in the yeast Bud3 and Fus2 proteins [5].
• Phenotypic analysis showed that Gyp5p, Ymr192p and Fus2p were involved in bipolar budding pattern and in meiosis [6].

Anatomical context of FUS2

• Consistent with a role in cell fusion, Fus2 protein localizes with discrete structures that could be of cytoskeletal or vesicular origin that accumulate at the tip of pheromone-induced shmoos and at the junction of paired cells in zygotes [4].
• Fus2 is predicted to be a coiled-coil protein and fractionates with a 100,000 g pellet, suggesting that it is associated with cytoskeleton, membranes, or other macromolecular structures [4].

Other interactions of FUS2

• In contrast, Fus2p and Rvs161p appeared to act after vesicle positioning [7].
• In addition, we found that the defect in default mating caused by mutations in SPA2 is partially suppressed by multiple copies of two genes, FUS2 and MFA2 [8].
• We characterized two genes, FUS1 and FUS2, which are required for fusion of Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells during conjugation [9].

References