No abstract

In recent years considerable progress has been achieved on the heterologous gene expression and protein secretion in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The variety of natural yeast secretory signal sequences being utilized for heterologous protein secretion are reviewed. The usefulness of the yeast pheromone, α‐factor leader sequence on the secretion of foreign proteins is emphasized.

The construction of two fused genes is described. One involves the in-frame fusion of the yeast prepro-alpha-factor coding sequence, and the Escherichia coli lac Z gene. The second gene fusion utilizes a 103 bp yeast invertase NH2-terminal coding sequence at the fusion junction of the hybrid gene described above. The gene fusions, under the control of the alpha-factor promoter, expressed active beta-galactosidase in alpha haploid yeast cells. The activity could be regulated in a temperature-sensitive sir3 mutant. The incorporation of the invertase coding sequence at the MF alpha 1-lacZ fusion junction provided significantly higher levels of beta-galactosidase activity. A substantial quantity of the hybrid proteins generated from the gene fusions was primarily localized in the intracellular membranes of yeast cells, while a processed form could be secreted into the periplasm.