Analysis of Chloroquine Resistance Transporter (CRT) Isoforms and Orthologues in S. cerevisiae Yeast

Previous work from our laboratory optimized MeOH-inducible expression of the P. falciparum malarial parasite transporter PfCRT in P. pastoris yeast. These strains are useful for many experiments but do not allow for inducible protein expression under ambient growth conditions. We have therefore optimized galactose-inducible expression of PfCRT in S. cerevisiae yeast. We find that expression of PfCRT confers CQ hypersensitivity to growing yeast and that this is due to plasma membrane localization of the transporter. We use quantitative analyses of growth rates to compare hypersensitivity for yeast expressing various PfCRT isoforms. We also report successful high level inducible expression of the P. vivax orthologue, PvCRT, and compare CQ hypersensitivity for PvCRT vs PfCRT expressing yeast. We test the hypothesis that hypersensitivity is due to increased transport of CQ into yeast expressing the transporters via direct H-3-CQ transport experiments and analyze the effect that membrane potential has on transport. The data suggest important new tools for rapid functional screening of PfCRT and PvCRT isoforms and provide further evidence for a model wherein membrane potential promotes charged CQ transport by PfCRT. Data also support our previous conclusion that wild type PfCRT is capable of CQ transport and provide a basis for understanding the lack of correspondence between PvCRT mutations and resistance to CQ in the important malarial parasite P. vivax.