Osmotin is a Homolog of Human Adiponectin and Controls Apoptosis in Yeast Through a Homolog of Human Adiponectin Receptor

, 140 words Total characters with spaces, 52,822 3 Summary The antifungal activity of the PR-5 family of plant defense proteins has been suspected to involve specific plasma membrane component(s) of the fungal target. Osmotin is a tobacco PR-5 family protein that induces apoptosis in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We show here that the protein encoded by ORE20/PHO36 (YOL002c), a seven transmembrane domain receptor-like polypeptide that regulates lipid and phosphate metabolism, is an osmotin-binding plasma membrane protein that is required for full sensitivity to osmotin. PHO36 functions upstream of RAS2 in the osmotin-induced apoptotic pathway. The human homolog of PHO36 is a receptor for the hormone adiponectin and regulates cellular lipid and sugar metabolism. Osmotin and adiponectin, the corresponding 'receptor'-binding proteins, do not share sequence similarity.