CALCIUM-INDEPENDENT CALMODULIN REQUIREMENT FOR ENDOCYTOSIS IN YEAST

We have recently shown that actin and fimbrin are required for the internalization step of endocytosis in yeast. Using a yeast strain with a temperature-sensitive allele of CMD1, encoding calmodulin, we demonstrate that this protein is also required for this process. Calmodulin mutants that have lost their high-affinity calcium binding sites are, however, able to carry out endocytosis normally. A mutation in Myo2p, an unconventional myosin that is a possible target of calmodulin, did not inhibit endocytosis. The function of calmodulin in endocytosis seems to be specific among membrane trafficking events, because the calmodulin mutants are not defective for biogenesis of soluble vacuolar hydrolases nor invertase secretion. Calmodulin does not seem to play a major role in the post-internalization steps of the endocytic pathway in yeast.