Saturation of the cell's protein folding capacity and accumulation of inactive incompletely folded protein often accompanying the overexpression of membrane proteins (MPs) presents an obstacle to their e⁄cient puri¢cation in a functional form for structural studies. We present a novel strategy for optimization of functional MP expression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. This approach exploits the unfolded protein response (UPR) pathway, a stress signaling mechanism that senses the accumulation of unfolded proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum. We demonstrate that a high level of UPR induction upon expression of a MP re£ects impaired functional expression of that protein. Tuning the expression level of the protein so as to avoid or minimize UPR induction results in its increased functional expression. UPR status can therefore serve as a proxy variable for the extent of impaired expression of a MP that may even be applicable in the absence of knowledge of the protein's biological function. ß

The cycloaddition reactions of nitrile sulfides have been used to prepare benzisothiazole quinones and 1,2-benzisothiazole-5,6-dicarboxylates. The nitrile sulfides, generated by thermal decarboxylation of 1,3,4-oxathiazol-2-ones, reacted with 1,4-naphthoquinone to afford 3-substituted naphtho [2,3-d]isothiazole-4,9-diones (17), together with nitriles as by-products. The corresponding reactions with 1,4-benzoquinone yielded regioisomeric mixtures of 2:1 adducts. The 1,2-benzisothiazole-5,6-dicarboxylates were synthesised by a sequence involving both nitrile sulfide and Diels-Alder cycloaddition reactions. Dimethyl 3-phenylisothiazole-4,5-dicarboxylate (34), prepared from benzonitrile sulfide and dimethyl acetylenedicarboxylate (DMAD), was converted into the 4,5-bis(dibromomethyl) analogue 37 via the bis(dihydroxymethyl) compound 35. Treatment of 37 with sodium iodide in the presence of DMAD afforded dimethyl 3-phenyl-1,2-benzisothiazole-5,6-dicarboxylate (30) via the isothiazole o-quinodimethane 32.