Yeast Ysl2p, Homologous to Sec7 Domain Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factors, Functions in Endocytosis and Maintenance of Vacuole Integrity and Interacts with the Arf-Like Small GTPase Arl1p

We previously described the isolation of ysl2-1 due to its genetic interaction with Δypt51/vps21, a mutant with a deletion of the coding sequence for the yeast Rab5 homolog, which regulates endocytic traffic between early and late endosomes. Here we report that Ysl2p is a novel 186.8-kDa peripheral membrane protein homologous to members of the Sec7 family. We provide multiple genetic and biochemical evidence for an interaction between Ysl12p and the Arf-like protein Arl1p, consistent with a potential function as an Arf guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF). The temperature-sensitive alleles ysl2-307 and ysl2-316 are specifically defective in ligand-induced degradation of Ste2p and α-factor and exhibit vacuole fragmentation directly upon a shift to 37°C. In living cells, green fluorescent protein (GFP)-Ysl2p colocalizes with endocytic elements that accumulate FM4-64. The GFP-Ysl2p staining is sensitive to a mutation in VPS27 resulting in the formation of an aberrant class E compartment, but it is not affected by a sec7 mutation. Consistent with the idea that Ysl2p and Arl1p have closely related functions, Δarl1 cells are defective in endocytic transport and in vacuolar protein sorting.