Christopher M. Hickey

Vacuole homotypic fusion has been reconstituted with all purified components: vacuolar lipids, four soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor attachment protein receptor (SNARE) proteins, Sec17p, Sec18p, the Rab Ypt7p, and the hexameric homotypic fusion and vacuole protein sorting complex (HOPS). HOPS is a Rab-effector with direct affinity for SNAREs (presumably via its Sec1-Munc18 homologous subunit Vps33p) and for certain vacuolar lipids. Each of these pure vacuolar proteins was required for optimal proteoliposome clustering, raising the question of which was most directly involved. We now present model subreactions of clustering and fusion that reveal that HOPS is the direct agent of tethering. The Rab and vacuole lipids contribute to tethering by supporting the membrane association of HOPS. HOPS indirectly facilitates trans-SNARE complex formation by tethering membranes, because the synthetic liposome tethering factor polyethylene glycol can also stimulate trans-SNARE complex formation and fusion. SNAREs further stabilize the associations of HOPS-tethered membranes. HOPS then protects newly formed trans-SNARE complexes from disassembly by Sec17p/Sec18p.

Rab GTPases and their effectors mediate docking, the initial contact of intracellular membranes preceding bilayer fusion. However, it has been unclear whether Rab proteins and effectors are sufficient for intermembrane interactions. We have recently reported reconstituted membrane fusion that requires yeast vacuolar SNAREs, lipids, and the homotypic fusion and vacuole protein sorting (HOPS)/class C Vps complex, an effector and guanine nucleotide exchange factor for the yeast vacuolar Rab GTPase Ypt7p. We now report reconstitution of lysis-free membrane fusion that requires purified GTP-bound Ypt7p, HOPS complex, vacuolar SNAREs, ATP hydrolysis, and the SNARE disassembly catalysts Sec17p and Sec18p. We use this reconstituted system to show that SNAREs and Sec17p/Sec18p, and Ypt7p and the HOPS complex, are required for stable intermembrane interactions and that the three vacuolar Q-SNAREs are sufficient for these interactions.

The fusion of yeast vacuoles, like other organelles, requires a Rab-family guanosine triphosphatase (Ypt7p), a Rab effector and Sec1/Munc18 (SM) complex termed HOPS (homotypic fusion and vacuole protein sorting), and soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor attachment protein receptors (SNAREs). The central 0-layer of the four bundled vacuolar SNAREs requires the wild-type three glutaminyl (Q) and one arginyl (R) residues for optimal fusion. Alterations of this layer dramatically increase the K(m) value for SNAREs to assemble trans-SNARE complexes and to fuse. We now find that added purified HOPS complex strongly suppresses the fusion of vacuoles bearing 0-layer alterations, but it has little effect on the fusion of vacuoles with wild-type SNAREs. HOPS proofreads at two levels, inhibiting the formation of trans-SNARE complexes with altered 0-layers and suppressing the ability of these mismatched 0-layer trans-SNARE complexes to support membrane fusion. HOPS proofreading also extends to other parts of the SNARE complex, because it suppresses the fusion of trans-SNARE complexes formed without the N-terminal Phox homology domain of Vam7p (Q(c)). Unlike some other SM proteins, HOPS proofreading does not require the Vam3p (Q(a)) N-terminal domain. HOPS thus proofreads SNARE domain and N-terminal domain structures and regulates the fusion capacity of trans-SNARE complexes, only allowing full function for wild-type SNARE configurations. This is the most direct evidence to date that HOPS is directly involved in the fusion event.