GPI7Involved in Glycosylphosphatidylinositol Biosynthesis Is Essential for Yeast Cell Separation
GPI7is involved in adding ethanolaminephosphate to the second mannose in the biosynthesis of glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) inSaccharomyces cerevisiae. We isolatedgpi7mutants, which have defects in cell separation and a daughter cell-specific growth defect at the non-permissive temperature.WSC1,RHO2,ROM2,GFA1, andCDC5genes were isolated as multicopy suppressors ofgpi7-2mutant. Multicopy suppressors could suppress the growth defect ofgpi7mutants but not the cell separation defect. Loss of function mutations of genes involved in the Cbk1p-Ace2p pathway, which activates the expression of daughter-specific genes for cell separation after cytokinesis, bypassed the temperature-sensitive growth defect ofgpi7mutants. Furthermore, deletion ofEGT2, one of the genes controlled by Ace2p and encoding a GPI-anchored protein required for cell separation, ameliorated the temperature sensitivity of thegpi7mutant. In this mutant, Egt2p was displaced from the septal region to the cell cortex, indicating thatGPI7plays an important role in cell separation via the GPI-based modification of daughter-specific proteins inS. cerevisiae.