Functional analysis of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae DUP240 multigene family reveals membrane-associated proteins that are not essential for cell viability.

The DUP240 gene family of Saccharomyces cerevisiae is composed of 10 members. They encode proteins of about 240 amino acids which contain two predicted transmembrane domains. Database searches identified only one homologue in the closely related species Saccharomyces bayanus, indicating that the DUP240 genes encode proteins specific to Saccharomyces sensu stricto. The short-flanking homology PCR gene-replacement strategy with a variety of selective markers for replacements, and classical genetic methods, were used to generate strains deleted for all 10 DUP240 genes. All of the knock-out strains were viable and had similar growth kinetics to the wild-type. Two-hybrid screens, hSos1p fusions and GFP fusions were carried out; the results indicated that the Dup240 proteins are membrane associated, and that some of them are concentrated around the plasma membrane.