The Golgi apparatus plays a significant role in the maintenance of Ca2+ homeostasis in the vps33Δ vacuolar biogenesis mutant of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The vacuole is the major site of intracellular Ca2+ storage in yeast and functions to maintain cytosolic Ca2+ levels within a narrow physiological range, In this study, we examined how cellular Ca2+ homeostasis is maintained in a vps33 Delta vacuolar biogenesis mutant. We found that growth of the vps33 Delta strain was sensitive to high or low extracellular Ca2+ This strain could not properly regulate cytosolic Ca2+ levels and was able to retain only a small fraction of its total cellular Ca2+ in a nonexchangeable intracellular pool. Surprisingly, the vps33 Delta strain contained more total cellular Ca2+ than the wild type strain. Because most cellular Ca2+ is normally found within the vacuole, this suggested that other intracellular compartments compensated for the reduced capacity to store Ca2+ within the vacuole of this strain. To test this hypothesis, we examined the contribution of the Golgi-localized Ca2+ ATPase Pmr1p in the maintenance of cellular Ca2+ homeostasis, We found that a vps33 Delta/pmr1 Delta strain was hypersensitive to high extracellular Ca2+. In addition, certain combinations of mutations effecting both vacuolar and Golgi Ca2+ transport resulted in synthetic lethality. These results indicate that the Golgi apparatus plays a significant role in maintaining Ca2+ homeostasis when vacuolar biogenesis is compromised.