1
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Neiman AM. Membrane and organelle rearrangement during ascospore formation in budding yeast. Microbiol Mol Biol Rev 2024; 88:e0001324. [PMID: 38899894 PMCID: PMC11426023 DOI: 10.1128/mmbr.00013-24] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/21/2024] Open
Abstract
SUMMARYIn ascomycete fungi, sexual spores, termed ascospores, are formed after meiosis. Ascospore formation is an unusual cell division in which daughter cells are created within the cytoplasm of the mother cell by de novo generation of membranes that encapsulate each of the haploid chromosome sets created by meiosis. This review describes the molecular events underlying the creation, expansion, and closure of these membranes in the budding yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Recent advances in our understanding of the regulation of gene expression and the dynamic behavior of different membrane-bound organelles during this process are detailed. While less is known about ascospore formation in other systems, comparison to the distantly related fission yeast suggests that the molecular events will be broadly similar throughout the ascomycetes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aaron M Neiman
- Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, USA
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2
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Szücs B, Selvan R, Lisby M. High-throughput classification of S. cerevisiae tetrads using deep learning. Yeast 2024; 41:423-436. [PMID: 38850080 DOI: 10.1002/yea.3965] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2024] [Revised: 04/17/2024] [Accepted: 05/14/2024] [Indexed: 06/09/2024] Open
Abstract
Meiotic crossovers play a vital role in proper chromosome segregation and evolution of most sexually reproducing organisms. Meiotic recombination can be visually observed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae tetrads using linked spore-autonomous fluorescent markers placed at defined intervals within the genome, which allows for analysis of meiotic segregation without the need for tetrad dissection. To automate the analysis, we developed a deep learning-based image recognition and classification pipeline for high-throughput tetrad detection and meiotic crossover classification. As a proof of concept, we analyzed a large image data set from wild-type and selected gene knock-out mutants to quantify crossover frequency, interference, chromosome missegregation, and gene conversion events. The deep learning-based method has the potential to accelerate the discovery of new genes involved in meiotic recombination in S. cerevisiae such as the underlying factors controlling crossover frequency and interference.
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Affiliation(s)
- Balint Szücs
- Section for Functional Genomics, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
- Center for Chromosome Stability, Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Raghavendra Selvan
- Department of Computer Science, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Michael Lisby
- Section for Functional Genomics, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
- Center for Chromosome Stability, Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
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3
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Ramakanth S, Kennedy T, Yalcinkaya B, Neupane S, Tadic N, Buchler NE, Argüello-Miranda O. Deep learning-driven imaging of cell division and cell growth across an entire eukaryotic life cycle. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.04.25.591211. [PMID: 38712227 PMCID: PMC11071524 DOI: 10.1101/2024.04.25.591211] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/08/2024]
Abstract
The life cycle of biomedical and agriculturally relevant eukaryotic microorganisms involves complex transitions between proliferative and non-proliferative states such as dormancy, mating, meiosis, and cell division. New drugs, pesticides, and vaccines can be created by targeting specific life cycle stages of parasites and pathogens. However, defining the structure of a microbial life cycle often relies on partial observations that are theoretically assembled in an ideal life cycle path. To create a more quantitative approach to studying complete eukaryotic life cycles, we generated a deep learning-driven imaging framework to track microorganisms across sexually reproducing generations. Our approach combines microfluidic culturing, life cycle stage-specific segmentation of microscopy images using convolutional neural networks, and a novel cell tracking algorithm, FIEST, based on enhancing the overlap of single cell masks in consecutive images through deep learning video frame interpolation. As proof of principle, we used this approach to quantitatively image and compare cell growth and cell cycle regulation across the sexual life cycle of Saccharomyces cerevisiae . We developed a fluorescent reporter system based on a fluorescently labeled Whi5 protein, the yeast analog of mammalian Rb, and a new High-Cdk1 activity sensor, LiCHI, designed to report during DNA replication, mitosis, meiotic homologous recombination, meiosis I, and meiosis II. We found that cell growth preceded the exit from non-proliferative states such as mitotic G1, pre-meiotic G1, and the G0 spore state during germination. A decrease in the total cell concentration of Whi5 characterized the exit from non-proliferative states, which is consistent with a Whi5 dilution model. The nuclear accumulation of Whi5 was developmentally regulated, being at its highest during meiotic exit and spore formation. The temporal coordination of cell division and growth was not significantly different across three sexually reproducing generations. Our framework could be used to quantitatively characterize other single-cell eukaryotic life cycles that remain incompletely described. An off-the-shelf user interface Yeastvision provides free access to our image processing and single-cell tracking algorithms.
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4
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Durant M, Mucelli X, Huang LS. Meiotic Cytokinesis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae: Spores That Just Need Closure. J Fungi (Basel) 2024; 10:132. [PMID: 38392804 PMCID: PMC10890087 DOI: 10.3390/jof10020132] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2024] [Revised: 01/30/2024] [Accepted: 02/04/2024] [Indexed: 02/24/2024] Open
Abstract
In the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, sporulation occurs during starvation of a diploid cell and results in the formation of four haploid spores forming within the mother cell ascus. Meiosis divides the genetic material that is encapsulated by the prospore membrane that grows to surround the haploid nuclei; this membrane will eventually become the plasma membrane of the haploid spore. Cellularization of the spores occurs when the prospore membrane closes to capture the haploid nucleus along with some cytoplasmic material from the mother cell, and thus, closure of the prospore membrane is the meiotic cytokinetic event. This cytokinetic event involves the removal of the leading-edge protein complex, a complex of proteins that localizes to the leading edge of the growing prospore membrane. The development and closure of the prospore membrane must be coordinated with other meiotic exit events such as spindle disassembly. Timing of the closure of the prospore membrane depends on the meiotic exit pathway, which utilizes Cdc15, a Hippo-like kinase, and Sps1, an STE20 family GCKIII kinase, acting in parallel to the E3 ligase Ama1-APC/C. This review describes the sporulation process and focuses on the development of the prospore membrane and the regulation of prospore membrane closure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew Durant
- Department of Biology, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA 02125, USA
| | - Xheni Mucelli
- Department of Biology, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA 02125, USA
| | - Linda S Huang
- Department of Biology, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA 02125, USA
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5
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A focus on yeast mating: From pheromone signaling to cell-cell fusion. Semin Cell Dev Biol 2023; 133:83-95. [PMID: 35148940 DOI: 10.1016/j.semcdb.2022.02.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 20.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2021] [Revised: 01/31/2022] [Accepted: 02/02/2022] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Cells live in a chemical environment and are able to orient towards chemical cues. Unicellular haploid fungal cells communicate by secreting pheromones to reproduce sexually. In the yeast models Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Schizosaccharomyces pombe, pheromonal communication activates similar pathways composed of cognate G-protein-coupled receptors and downstream small GTPase Cdc42 and MAP kinase cascades. Local pheromone release and sensing, at a mobile surface polarity patch, underlie spatial gradient interpretation to form pairs between two cells of distinct mating types. Concentration of secretion at the point of cell-cell contact then leads to local cell wall digestion for cell fusion, forming a diploid zygote that prevents further fusion attempts. A number of asymmetries between mating types may promote efficiency of the system. In this review, we present our current knowledge of pheromone signaling in the two model yeasts, with an emphasis on how cells decode the pheromone signal spatially and ultimately fuse together. Though overall pathway architectures are similar in the two species, their large evolutionary distance allows to explore how conceptually similar solutions to a general biological problem can arise from divergent molecular components.
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6
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Salzberg LI, Martos AAR, Lombardi L, Jermiin LS, Blanco A, Byrne KP, Wolfe KH. A widespread inversion polymorphism conserved among Saccharomyces species is caused by recurrent homogenization of a sporulation gene family. PLoS Genet 2022; 18:e1010525. [PMID: 36441813 PMCID: PMC9731477 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1010525] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2022] [Revised: 12/08/2022] [Accepted: 11/12/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Saccharomyces genomes are highly collinear and show relatively little structural variation, both within and between species of this yeast genus. We investigated the only common inversion polymorphism known in S. cerevisiae, which affects a 24-kb 'flip/flop' region containing 15 genes near the centromere of chromosome XIV. The region exists in two orientations, called reference (REF) and inverted (INV). Meiotic recombination in this region is suppressed in crosses between REF and INV orientation strains such as the BY x RM cross. We find that the inversion polymorphism is at least 17 million years old because it is conserved across the genus Saccharomyces. However, the REF and INV isomers are not ancient alleles but are continually being re-created by re-inversion of the region within each species. Inversion occurs due to continual homogenization of two almost identical 4-kb sequences that form an inverted repeat (IR) at the ends of the flip/flop region. The IR consists of two pairs of genes that are specifically and strongly expressed during the late stages of sporulation. We show that one of these gene pairs, YNL018C/YNL034W, codes for a protein that is essential for spore formation. YNL018C and YNL034W are the founder members of a gene family, Centroid, whose members in other Saccharomycetaceae species evolve fast, duplicate frequently, and are preferentially located close to centromeres. We tested the hypothesis that Centroid genes are a meiotic drive system, but found no support for this idea.
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Affiliation(s)
- Letal I. Salzberg
- Conway Institute, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
- School of Medicine, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
| | - Alexandre A. R. Martos
- Conway Institute, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
- School of Medicine, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
| | - Lisa Lombardi
- Conway Institute, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
- School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
| | - Lars S. Jermiin
- School of Medicine, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
- School of Biology and Environmental Science, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
- Earth Institute, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
- Research School of Biology, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
| | - Alfonso Blanco
- Conway Institute, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
| | - Kevin P. Byrne
- Conway Institute, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
- School of Medicine, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
| | - Kenneth H. Wolfe
- Conway Institute, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
- School of Medicine, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
- * E-mail:
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7
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Sirr A, Timour MS, Cromie GA, Tang M, Dudley AM. A method for quantifying sporulation efficiency and isolating meiotic progeny in non-GMO strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Yeast 2022; 39:354-362. [PMID: 35706372 DOI: 10.1002/yea.3802] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2022] [Revised: 05/25/2022] [Accepted: 06/03/2022] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
Abstract
Meiotic mapping, a linkage-based method for analyzing the recombinant progeny of a cross, has long been a cornerstone of genetic research. The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a powerful system because it is possible to isolate and cultivate the four products (spores) of a single meiotic event. However, the throughput of this process has historically been limited by the process of identifying tetrads in a heterogeneous population of vegetative cells, tetrads, and dyads followed by manual separation (dissection) of the spores contained in a tetrad. To date, methods that facilitate high throughput characterization and isolation of meiotic progeny have relied on genetic engineering. Here, we characterize the ability of the fluorescent dye DiBAC4 (5) to stain yeast tetrads and dyads as well as to adhere to spores following bulk tetrad disruption. Applications include quantitative assays of sporulation rates and efficiency by flow cytometry as well as enrichment of intact tetrads, dyads, or disrupted spores by fluorescence-activated cell sorting in strains that have not been genetically modified.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amy Sirr
- Pacific Northwest Research Institute, Seattle, Washington, USA
| | - Martin S Timour
- Pacific Northwest Research Institute, Seattle, Washington, USA
| | - Gareth A Cromie
- Pacific Northwest Research Institute, Seattle, Washington, USA
| | - Michelle Tang
- Pacific Northwest Research Institute, Seattle, Washington, USA
| | - Aimée M Dudley
- Pacific Northwest Research Institute, Seattle, Washington, USA
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8
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De Chiara M, Barré BP, Persson K, Irizar A, Vischioni C, Khaiwal S, Stenberg S, Amadi OC, Žun G, Doberšek K, Taccioli C, Schacherer J, Petrovič U, Warringer J, Liti G. Domestication reprogrammed the budding yeast life cycle. Nat Ecol Evol 2022; 6:448-460. [PMID: 35210580 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-022-01671-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2020] [Accepted: 12/14/2021] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Domestication of plants and animals is the foundation for feeding the world human population but can profoundly alter the biology of the domesticated species. Here we investigated the effect of domestication on one of our prime model organisms, the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, at a species-wide level. We tracked the capacity for sexual and asexual reproduction and the chronological life span across a global collection of 1,011 genome-sequenced yeast isolates and found a remarkable dichotomy between domesticated and wild strains. Domestication had systematically enhanced fermentative and reduced respiratory asexual growth, altered the tolerance to many stresses and abolished or impaired the sexual life cycle. The chronological life span remained largely unaffected by domestication and was instead dictated by clade-specific evolution. We traced the genetic origins of the yeast domestication syndrome using genome-wide association analysis and genetic engineering and disclosed causative effects of aneuploidy, gene presence/absence variations, copy number variations and single-nucleotide polymorphisms. Overall, we propose domestication to be the most dramatic event in budding yeast evolution, raising questions about how much domestication has distorted our understanding of the natural biology of this key model species.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Benjamin P Barré
- Université Côte d'Azur, CNRS, INSERM, IRCAN, Nice, France.,Division of Genetics, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Karl Persson
- Department of Chemistry and Molecular Biology, Gothenburg University, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | | | - Chiara Vischioni
- Université Côte d'Azur, CNRS, INSERM, IRCAN, Nice, France.,Department of Animal Medicine, Production and Health, University of Padova, Legnaro, Italy
| | - Sakshi Khaiwal
- Université Côte d'Azur, CNRS, INSERM, IRCAN, Nice, France
| | - Simon Stenberg
- Department of Chemistry and Molecular Biology, Gothenburg University, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Onyetugo Chioma Amadi
- Department of Chemistry and Molecular Biology, Gothenburg University, Gothenburg, Sweden.,Department of Microbiology, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria
| | - Gašper Žun
- Department of Molecular and Biomedical Sciences, Jožef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia.,Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | - Katja Doberšek
- Department of Molecular and Biomedical Sciences, Jožef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | - Cristian Taccioli
- Department of Animal Medicine, Production and Health, University of Padova, Legnaro, Italy
| | | | - Uroš Petrovič
- Department of Molecular and Biomedical Sciences, Jožef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia.,Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | - Jonas Warringer
- Department of Chemistry and Molecular Biology, Gothenburg University, Gothenburg, Sweden.
| | - Gianni Liti
- Université Côte d'Azur, CNRS, INSERM, IRCAN, Nice, France.
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9
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Abstract
Fungi exhibit an enormous variety of morphologies, including yeast colonies, hyphal mycelia, and elaborate fruiting bodies. This diversity arises through a combination of polar growth, cell division, and cell fusion. Because fungal cells are nonmotile and surrounded by a protective cell wall that is essential for cell integrity, potential fusion partners must grow toward each other until they touch and then degrade the intervening cell walls without impacting cell integrity. Here, we review recent progress on understanding how fungi overcome these challenges. Extracellular chemoattractants, including small peptide pheromones, mediate communication between potential fusion partners, promoting the local activation of core cell polarity regulators to orient polar growth and cell wall degradation. However, in crowded environments, pheromone gradients can be complex and potentially confusing, raising the question of how cells can effectively find their partners. Recent findings suggest that the cell polarity circuit exhibits searching behavior that can respond to pheromone cues through a remarkably flexible and effective strategy called exploratory polarization.
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10
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Papaioannou IA, Dutreux F, Peltier FA, Maekawa H, Delhomme N, Bardhan A, Friedrich A, Schacherer J, Knop M. Sex without crossing over in the yeast Saccharomycodes ludwigii. Genome Biol 2021; 22:303. [PMID: 34732243 PMCID: PMC8567612 DOI: 10.1186/s13059-021-02521-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2021] [Accepted: 10/20/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Intermixing of genomes through meiotic reassortment and recombination of homologous chromosomes is a unifying theme of sexual reproduction in eukaryotic organisms and is considered crucial for their adaptive evolution. Previous studies of the budding yeast species Saccharomycodes ludwigii suggested that meiotic crossing over might be absent from its sexual life cycle, which is predominated by fertilization within the meiotic tetrad. RESULTS We demonstrate that recombination is extremely suppressed during meiosis in Sd. ludwigii. DNA double-strand break formation by the conserved transesterase Spo11, processing and repair involving interhomolog interactions are required for normal meiosis but do not lead to crossing over. Although the species has retained an intact meiotic gene repertoire, genetic and population analyses suggest the exceptionally rare occurrence of meiotic crossovers in its genome. A strong AT bias of spontaneous mutations and the absence of recombination are likely responsible for its unusually low genomic GC level. CONCLUSIONS Sd. ludwigii has followed a unique evolutionary trajectory that possibly derives fitness benefits from the combination of frequent mating between products of the same meiotic event with the extreme suppression of meiotic recombination. This life style ensures preservation of heterozygosity throughout its genome and may enable the species to adapt to its environment and survive with only minimal levels of rare meiotic recombination. We propose Sd. ludwigii as an excellent natural forum for the study of genome evolution and recombination rates.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Fabien Dutreux
- Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, GMGM UMR 7156, Strasbourg, France
| | - France A. Peltier
- Center for Molecular Biology of Heidelberg University (ZMBH), Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Hiromi Maekawa
- Center for Molecular Biology of Heidelberg University (ZMBH), Heidelberg, Germany
- Current affiliation: Faculty of Agriculture, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan
| | - Nicolas Delhomme
- Umeå Plant Science Centre, Department of Forest Genetics and Plant Physiology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå, Sweden
| | - Amit Bardhan
- Center for Molecular Biology of Heidelberg University (ZMBH), Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Anne Friedrich
- Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, GMGM UMR 7156, Strasbourg, France
| | - Joseph Schacherer
- Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, GMGM UMR 7156, Strasbourg, France
- Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), Paris, France
| | - Michael Knop
- Center for Molecular Biology of Heidelberg University (ZMBH), Heidelberg, Germany
- German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), DKFZ-ZMBH Alliance, Heidelberg, Germany
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11
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Wine Yeasts Selection: Laboratory Characterization and Protocol Review. Microorganisms 2021; 9:microorganisms9112223. [PMID: 34835348 PMCID: PMC8623447 DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms9112223] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/18/2021] [Revised: 10/21/2021] [Accepted: 10/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Wine reflects the specificity of a terroir, including the native microbiota. In contrast to the use of Saccharomyces cerevisiae commercial starters, a way to maintain wines' microbial terroir identities, guaranteeing at the same time the predictability and reproducibility of the wines, is the selection of autochthonous Saccharomyces and non-Saccharomyces strains towards optimal enological characteristics for the chosen area of isolation. This field has been explored but there is a lack of a compendium covering the main methods to use. Autochthonous wine yeasts from different areas of Slovakia were identified and tested, in the form of colonies grown either on nutrient agar plates or in grape must micro-fermentations, for technological and qualitative enological characteristics. Based on the combined results, Saccharomyces cerevisiae PDA W 10, Lachancea thermotolerans 5-1-1 and Metschnikowia pulcherrima 125/14 were selected as potential wine starters. This paper, as a mixture of experimental and review contributions, provides a compendium of methods used to select autochthonous wine yeasts. Thanks to the presence of images, this compendium could guide other researchers in screening their own yeast strains for wine production.
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12
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Ghose D, Jacobs K, Ramirez S, Elston T, Lew D. Chemotactic movement of a polarity site enables yeast cells to find their mates. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2021; 118:e2025445118. [PMID: 34050026 PMCID: PMC8179161 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2025445118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/17/2023] Open
Abstract
How small eukaryotic cells can interpret dynamic, noisy, and spatially complex chemical gradients to orient growth or movement is poorly understood. We address this question using Saccharomyces cerevisiae, where cells orient polarity up pheromone gradients during mating. Initial orientation is often incorrect, but polarity sites then move around the cortex in a search for partners. We find that this movement is biased by local pheromone gradients across the polarity site: that is, movement of the polarity site is chemotactic. A bottom-up computational model recapitulates this biased movement. The model reveals how even though pheromone-bound receptors do not mimic the shape of external pheromone gradients, nonlinear and stochastic effects combine to generate effective gradient tracking. This mechanism for gradient tracking may be applicable to any cell that searches for a target in a complex chemical landscape.
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Affiliation(s)
- Debraj Ghose
- Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, Duke University, Durham, NC 27710
- Department of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710
| | - Katherine Jacobs
- Department of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710
| | - Samuel Ramirez
- Department of Pharmacology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599
| | - Timothy Elston
- Department of Pharmacology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599
| | - Daniel Lew
- Department of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710;
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13
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Maroc L, Fairhead C. Lessons from the Nakaseomyces: mating-type switching, DSB repair and evolution of Ho. Curr Genet 2021; 67:685-693. [PMID: 33830322 DOI: 10.1007/s00294-021-01182-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2021] [Revised: 03/22/2021] [Accepted: 03/24/2021] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
This short paper aims to review what our recent studies in the Nakaseomyces yeasts, principally Candida glabrata, reveal about the evolution of the mating-type switching system and its components, as well as about the repair of chromosomal double-strand breaks in this clade. In the model yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the study of mating-type switching has, over the years, led to major discoveries in how cells process chromosomal breaks. Indeed, in this species, switching, which allows every haploid cell to produce cells of opposite mating types that can mate together, is initiated by the Ho endonuclease, linking sexual reproduction to a programmed chromosomal cut. More recently, the availability of other yeasts' genomes from type strains and from populations, and the ability to manipulate and edit the genomes of most yeasts in the laboratory, has enabled scientists to explore mating-type switching in new species, thus enriching our evolutionary perspective on this phenomenon. In this review, we will show how the study of mating-type switching in C. glabrata and Nakaseomyces delphensis has allowed us to reveal possible additional roles for Ho, and also to discover major differences in DSB repair at central and subtelomeric sexual loci. In addition, we report how the study of repair of chromosomal breaks induced by CRISPR-Cas9 reveals that efficient and faithful NHEJ is a major repair pathway in C. glabrata.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laetitia Maroc
- GQE-Le Moulon, Université Paris-Saclay, INRAE, CNRS, AgroParisTech, Ferme du Moulon, 91190, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Cécile Fairhead
- GQE-Le Moulon, Université Paris-Saclay, INRAE, CNRS, AgroParisTech, Ferme du Moulon, 91190, Gif-sur-Yvette, France.
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14
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Clark-Cotton MR, Henderson NT, Pablo M, Ghose D, Elston TC, Lew DJ. Exploratory polarization facilitates mating partner selection in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Mol Biol Cell 2021; 32:1048-1063. [PMID: 33689470 PMCID: PMC8101489 DOI: 10.1091/mbc.e21-02-0068] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Yeast decode pheromone gradients to locate mating partners, providing a model for chemotropism. How yeast polarize toward a single partner in crowded environments is unclear. Initially, cells often polarize in unproductive directions, but then they relocate the polarity site until two partners’ polarity sites align, whereupon the cells “commit” to each other by stabilizing polarity to promote fusion. Here we address the role of the early mobile polarity sites. We found that commitment by either partner failed if just one partner was defective in generating, orienting, or stabilizing its mobile polarity sites. Mobile polarity sites were enriched for pheromone receptors and G proteins, and we suggest that such sites engage in an exploratory search of the local pheromone landscape, stabilizing only when they detect elevated pheromone levels. Mobile polarity sites were also enriched for pheromone secretion factors, and simulations suggest that only focal secretion at polarity sites would produce high pheromone concentrations at the partner’s polarity site, triggering commitment.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Nicholas T Henderson
- Department of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708
| | - Michael Pablo
- Department of Chemistry, Chapel Hill, NC 27599.,Program in Molecular and Cellular Biophysics, Chapel Hill, NC 27599
| | - Debraj Ghose
- Department of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708
| | - Timothy C Elston
- Department of Pharmacology and Computational Medicine Program, UNC Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599
| | - Daniel J Lew
- Department of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708
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15
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Li H, Sun H, Jiang J, Sun X, Tan L, Sun C. TAC4 controls tiller angle by regulating the endogenous auxin content and distribution in rice. PLANT BIOTECHNOLOGY JOURNAL 2021; 19:64-73. [PMID: 32628357 PMCID: PMC7769243 DOI: 10.1111/pbi.13440] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2019] [Revised: 04/29/2020] [Accepted: 06/18/2020] [Indexed: 05/17/2023]
Abstract
Tiller angle, an important component of plant architecture, greatly influences the grain yield of rice (Oryza sativa L.). Here, we identified Tiller Angle Control 4 (TAC4) as a novel regulator of rice tiller angle. TAC4 encodes a plant-specific, highly conserved nuclear protein. The loss of TAC4 function leads to a significant increase in the tiller angle. TAC4 can regulate rice shoot gravitropism by increasing the indole acetic acid content and affecting the auxin distribution. A sequence analysis revealed that TAC4 has undergone a bottleneck and become fixed in indica cultivars during domestication and improvement. Our findings facilitate an increased understanding of the regulatory mechanisms of tiller angle and also provide a potential gene resource for the improvement of rice plant architecture.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hua Li
- State Key Laboratory of Plant Physiology and BiochemistryChina Agricultural UniversityBeijingChina
- National Center for Evaluation of Agricultural Wild Plants (Rice)Beijing Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic ImprovementLaboratory of Crop Heterosis and UtilizationMOEDepartment of Plant Genetics and BreedingChina Agricultural UniversityBeijingChina
| | - Hongying Sun
- State Key Laboratory of Plant Physiology and BiochemistryChina Agricultural UniversityBeijingChina
- National Center for Evaluation of Agricultural Wild Plants (Rice)Beijing Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic ImprovementLaboratory of Crop Heterosis and UtilizationMOEDepartment of Plant Genetics and BreedingChina Agricultural UniversityBeijingChina
| | - Jiahuang Jiang
- National Center for Evaluation of Agricultural Wild Plants (Rice)Beijing Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic ImprovementLaboratory of Crop Heterosis and UtilizationMOEDepartment of Plant Genetics and BreedingChina Agricultural UniversityBeijingChina
| | - Xianyou Sun
- National Center for Evaluation of Agricultural Wild Plants (Rice)Beijing Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic ImprovementLaboratory of Crop Heterosis and UtilizationMOEDepartment of Plant Genetics and BreedingChina Agricultural UniversityBeijingChina
| | - Lubin Tan
- National Center for Evaluation of Agricultural Wild Plants (Rice)Beijing Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic ImprovementLaboratory of Crop Heterosis and UtilizationMOEDepartment of Plant Genetics and BreedingChina Agricultural UniversityBeijingChina
| | - Chuanqing Sun
- State Key Laboratory of Plant Physiology and BiochemistryChina Agricultural UniversityBeijingChina
- National Center for Evaluation of Agricultural Wild Plants (Rice)Beijing Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic ImprovementLaboratory of Crop Heterosis and UtilizationMOEDepartment of Plant Genetics and BreedingChina Agricultural UniversityBeijingChina
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16
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Fischer G, Liti G, Llorente B. The budding yeast life cycle: More complex than anticipated? Yeast 2020; 38:5-11. [PMID: 33197073 DOI: 10.1002/yea.3533] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2020] [Revised: 10/05/2020] [Accepted: 10/28/2020] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
Abstract
The budding yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, has served as a model for nearly a century to understand the principles of the eukaryotic life cycle. The canonical life cycle of S. cerevisiae comprises a regular alternation between haploid and diploid phases. Haploid gametes generated by sporulation are expected to quickly restore the diploid phase mainly through inbreeding via intratetrad mating or haploselfing, thereby promoting genome homozygotization. However, recent large population genomics data unveiled that heterozygosity and polyploidy are unexpectedly common. This raises the interesting paradox of a haplo-diplobiontic species being well-adapted to inbreeding and able to maintain high levels of heterozygosity and polyploidy, thereby suggesting an unanticipated complexity of the yeast life cycle. Here, we propose that unprogrammed mating type switching, heterothallism, reduced spore formation and viability, cell-cell fusion and dioecy could play key and uncharted contributions to generate and maintain heterozygosity through polyploidization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gilles Fischer
- CNRS, Institut de Biologie Paris-Seine, Laboratory of Computational and Quantitative Biology, Sorbonne Université, Paris, France
| | - Gianni Liti
- CNRS, INSERM, IRCAN, Université Côte d'Azur, Nice, France
| | - Bertrand Llorente
- Cancer Research Center of Marseille, CNRS, Inserm, Institut Paoli-Calmettes, Aix-Marseille Université, Marseille, France
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17
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Paulissen SM, Hunt CA, Seitz BC, Slubowski CJ, Yu Y, Mucelli X, Truong D, Wallis Z, Nguyen HT, Newman-Toledo S, Neiman AM, Huang LS. A Noncanonical Hippo Pathway Regulates Spindle Disassembly and Cytokinesis During Meiosis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Genetics 2020; 216:447-462. [PMID: 32788308 PMCID: PMC7536847 DOI: 10.1534/genetics.120.303584] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2019] [Accepted: 08/09/2020] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Meiosis in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is used to create haploid yeast spores from a diploid mother cell. During meiosis II, cytokinesis occurs by closure of the prospore membrane, a membrane that initiates at the spindle pole body and grows to surround each of the haploid meiotic products. Timely prospore membrane closure requires SPS1, which encodes an STE20 family GCKIII kinase. To identify genes that may activate SPS1, we utilized a histone phosphorylation defect of sps1 mutants to screen for genes with a similar phenotype and found that cdc15 shared this phenotype. CDC15 encodes a Hippo-like kinase that is part of the mitotic exit network. We find that Sps1 complexes with Cdc15, that Sps1 phosphorylation requires Cdc15, and that CDC15 is also required for timely prospore membrane closure. We also find that SPS1, like CDC15, is required for meiosis II spindle disassembly and sustained anaphase II release of Cdc14 in meiosis. However, the NDR-kinase complex encoded by DBF2/DBF20MOB1 which functions downstream of CDC15 in mitotic cells, does not appear to play a role in spindle disassembly, timely prospore membrane closure, or sustained anaphase II Cdc14 release. Taken together, our results suggest that the mitotic exit network is rewired for exit from meiosis II, such that SPS1 replaces the NDR-kinase complex downstream of CDC15.
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Affiliation(s)
- Scott M Paulissen
- Department of Biology, University of Massachusetts Boston, Massachusetts 02125
| | - Cindy A Hunt
- Department of Biology, University of Massachusetts Boston, Massachusetts 02125
| | - Brian C Seitz
- Department of Biology, University of Massachusetts Boston, Massachusetts 02125
| | | | - Yao Yu
- Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Stony Brook University, New York 11794
| | - Xheni Mucelli
- Department of Biology, University of Massachusetts Boston, Massachusetts 02125
| | - Dang Truong
- Department of Biology, University of Massachusetts Boston, Massachusetts 02125
| | - Zoey Wallis
- Department of Biology, University of Massachusetts Boston, Massachusetts 02125
| | - Hung T Nguyen
- Department of Biology, University of Massachusetts Boston, Massachusetts 02125
| | | | - Aaron M Neiman
- Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Stony Brook University, New York 11794
| | - Linda S Huang
- Department of Biology, University of Massachusetts Boston, Massachusetts 02125
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18
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Abstract
Opportunistic pathogens such as Candida species can use carboxylic acids, like acetate and lactate, to survive and successfully thrive in different environmental niches. These nonfermentable substrates are frequently the major carbon sources present in certain human body sites, and their efficient uptake by regulated plasma membrane transporters plays a critical role in such nutrient-limited conditions. Here, we cover the physiology and regulation of these proteins and their potential role in Candida virulence. Opportunistic pathogens such as Candida species can use carboxylic acids, like acetate and lactate, to survive and successfully thrive in different environmental niches. These nonfermentable substrates are frequently the major carbon sources present in certain human body sites, and their efficient uptake by regulated plasma membrane transporters plays a critical role in such nutrient-limited conditions. Here, we cover the physiology and regulation of these proteins and their potential role in Candida virulence. This review also presents an evolutionary analysis of orthologues of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae Jen1 lactate and Ady2 acetate transporters, including a phylogenetic analysis of 101 putative carboxylate transporters in twelve medically relevant Candida species. These proteins are assigned to distinct clades according to their amino acid sequence homology and represent the major carboxylic acid uptake systems in yeast. While Jen transporters belong to the sialate:H+ symporter (SHS) family, the Ady2 homologue members are assigned to the acetate uptake transporter (AceTr) family. Here, we reclassify the later members as ATO (acetate transporter ortholog). The new nomenclature will facilitate the study of these transporters, as well as the analysis of their relevance for Candida pathogenesis.
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19
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Liu Y, Wood NE, Marchand AJ, Arguello-Miranda O, Doncic A. Functional interrelationships between carbohydrate and lipid storage, and mitochondrial activity during sporulation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Yeast 2020; 37:269-279. [PMID: 31960994 DOI: 10.1002/yea.3460] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/25/2019] [Revised: 12/17/2019] [Accepted: 01/15/2020] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
In Saccharomyces cerevisiae under conditions of nutrient stress, meiosis precedes the formation of spores. Although the molecular mechanisms that regulate meiosis, such as meiotic recombination and nuclear divisions, have been extensively studied, the metabolic factors that determine the efficiency of sporulation are less understood. Here, we have directly assessed the relationship between metabolic stores and sporulation in S. cerevisiae by genetically disrupting the synthetic pathways for the carbohydrate stores, glycogen (gsy1/2Δ cells), trehalose (tps1Δ cells), or both (gsy1/2Δ and tps1Δ cells). We show that storage carbohydrate-deficient strains are highly inefficient in sporulation. Although glycogen and trehalose stores can partially compensate for each other, they have differential effects on sporulation rate and spore number. Interestingly, deletion of the G1 cyclin, CLN3, which resulted in an increase in cell size, mitochondria and lipid stores, partially rescued meiosis progression and spore ascus formation but not spore number in storage carbohydrate-deficient strains. Sporulation efficiency in the carbohydrate-deficient strain exhibited a greater dependency on mitochondrial activity and lipid stores than wild-type yeast. Taken together, our results provide new insights into the complex crosstalk between metabolic factors that support gametogenesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yanjie Liu
- Department of Cell Biology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA
| | - N Ezgi Wood
- Department of Cell Biology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA
| | - Ashley J Marchand
- Department of Cell Biology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA
| | | | - Andreas Doncic
- Department of Cell Biology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA.,Green Center for Systems Biology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA
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20
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King GA, Goodman JS, Schick JG, Chetlapalli K, Jorgens DM, McDonald KL, Ünal E. Meiotic cellular rejuvenation is coupled to nuclear remodeling in budding yeast. eLife 2019; 8:e47156. [PMID: 31397671 PMCID: PMC6711709 DOI: 10.7554/elife.47156] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/26/2019] [Accepted: 07/19/2019] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Production of healthy gametes in meiosis relies on the quality control and proper distribution of both nuclear and cytoplasmic contents. Meiotic differentiation naturally eliminates age-induced cellular damage by an unknown mechanism. Using time-lapse fluorescence microscopy in budding yeast, we found that nuclear senescence factors - including protein aggregates, extrachromosomal ribosomal DNA circles, and abnormal nucleolar material - are sequestered away from chromosomes during meiosis II and subsequently eliminated. A similar sequestration and elimination process occurs for the core subunits of the nuclear pore complex in both young and aged cells. Nuclear envelope remodeling drives the formation of a membranous compartment containing the sequestered material. Importantly, de novo generation of plasma membrane is required for the sequestration event, preventing the inheritance of long-lived nucleoporins and senescence factors into the newly formed gametes. Our study uncovers a new mechanism of nuclear quality control and provides insight into its function in meiotic cellular rejuvenation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Grant A King
- Department of Molecular and Cell BiologyUniversity of California, BerkeleyBerkeleyUnited States
| | - Jay S Goodman
- Department of Molecular and Cell BiologyUniversity of California, BerkeleyBerkeleyUnited States
| | - Jennifer G Schick
- Department of Molecular and Cell BiologyUniversity of California, BerkeleyBerkeleyUnited States
| | - Keerthana Chetlapalli
- Department of Molecular and Cell BiologyUniversity of California, BerkeleyBerkeleyUnited States
| | - Danielle M Jorgens
- Electron Microscope LabUniversity of California, BerkeleyBerkeleyUnited States
| | - Kent L McDonald
- Electron Microscope LabUniversity of California, BerkeleyBerkeleyUnited States
| | - Elçin Ünal
- Department of Molecular and Cell BiologyUniversity of California, BerkeleyBerkeleyUnited States
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21
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Rogers DW, McConnell E, Ono J, Greig D. Spore-autonomous fluorescent protein expression identifies meiotic chromosome mis-segregation as the principal cause of hybrid sterility in yeast. PLoS Biol 2018; 16:e2005066. [PMID: 30419022 PMCID: PMC6258379 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.2005066] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2017] [Revised: 11/26/2018] [Accepted: 10/29/2018] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Genome-wide sequence divergence between populations can cause hybrid sterility through the action of the anti-recombination system, which rejects crossover repair of double strand breaks between nonidentical sequences. Because crossovers are necessary to ensure proper segregation of homologous chromosomes during meiosis, the reduced recombination rate in hybrids can result in high levels of nondisjunction and therefore low gamete viability. Hybrid sterility in interspecific crosses of Saccharomyces yeasts is known to be associated with such segregation errors, but estimates of the importance of nondisjunction to postzygotic reproductive isolation have been hampered by difficulties in accurately measuring nondisjunction frequencies. Here, we use spore-autonomous fluorescent protein expression to quantify nondisjunction in both interspecific and intraspecific yeast hybrids. We show that segregation is near random in interspecific hybrids. The observed rates of nondisjunction can explain most of the sterility observed in interspecific hybrids through the failure of gametes to inherit at least one copy of each chromosome. Partially impairing the anti-recombination system by preventing expression of the RecQ helicase SGS1 during meiosis cuts nondisjunction frequencies in half. We further show that chromosome loss through nondisjunction can explain nearly all of the sterility observed in hybrids formed between two populations of a single species. The rate of meiotic nondisjunction of each homologous pair was negatively correlated with chromosome size in these intraspecific hybrids. Our results demonstrate that sequence divergence is not only associated with the sterility of hybrids formed between distantly related species but may also be a direct cause of reproductive isolation in incipient species.
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Affiliation(s)
- David W. Rogers
- Experimental Evolution Research Group, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, Plön, Germany
- Department of Microbial Population Biology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, Plön, Germany
- * E-mail:
| | - Ellen McConnell
- Experimental Evolution Research Group, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, Plön, Germany
- Department of Microbial Population Biology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, Plön, Germany
| | - Jasmine Ono
- Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Duncan Greig
- Experimental Evolution Research Group, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, Plön, Germany
- Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London, London, United Kingdom
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22
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McClure AW, Jacobs KC, Zyla TR, Lew DJ. Mating in wild yeast: delayed interest in sex after spore germination. Mol Biol Cell 2018; 29:3119-3127. [PMID: 30355051 PMCID: PMC6340204 DOI: 10.1091/mbc.e18-08-0528] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Studies of laboratory strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae have uncovered signaling pathways involved in mating, including information-processing strategies to optimize decisions to mate or to bud. However, lab strains are heterothallic (unable to self-mate), while wild yeast are homothallic. And while mating of lab strains is studied using cycling haploid cells, mating of wild yeast is thought to involve germinating spores. Thus, it was unclear whether lab strategies would be appropriate in the wild. Here, we have investigated the behavior of several yeast strains derived from wild isolates. Following germination, these strains displayed large differences in their propensity to mate or to enter the cell cycle. The variable interest in sex following germination was correlated with differences in pheromone production, which were due to both cis- and trans-acting factors. Our findings suggest that yeast spores germinating in the wild may often enter the cell cycle and form microcolonies before engaging in mating.
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Affiliation(s)
- Allison W McClure
- Department of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710
| | - Katherine C Jacobs
- Department of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710
| | - Trevin R Zyla
- Department of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710
| | - Daniel J Lew
- Department of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710
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23
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P-Body Localization of the Hrr25/Casein Kinase 1 Protein Kinase Is Required for the Completion of Meiosis. Mol Cell Biol 2018; 38:MCB.00678-17. [PMID: 29915153 DOI: 10.1128/mcb.00678-17] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/28/2017] [Accepted: 06/12/2018] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
P-bodies are liquid droplet-like compartments that lack a limiting membrane and are present in many eukaryotic cells. These structures contain specific sets of proteins and mRNAs at concentrations higher than that in the surrounding environment. Although highly conserved, the normal physiological roles of these ribonucleoprotein (RNP) granules remain poorly defined. Here, we report that P-bodies are required for the efficient completion of meiosis in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae P-bodies were found to be present during all phases of the meiotic program and to provide protection for the Hrr25/CK1 protein kinase, a key regulator of this developmental process. A failure to associate with these RNP granules resulted in diminished levels of Hrr25 and an ensuing inability to complete meiosis. This work therefore identifies a novel function for these RNP granules and indicates how protein recruitment to these structures can have a significant impact on eukaryotic cell biology.
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24
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Wallen RM, Perlin MH. An Overview of the Function and Maintenance of Sexual Reproduction in Dikaryotic Fungi. Front Microbiol 2018; 9:503. [PMID: 29619017 PMCID: PMC5871698 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2018.00503] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/25/2017] [Accepted: 03/05/2018] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Sexual reproduction likely evolved as protection from environmental stresses, specifically, to repair DNA damage, often via homologous recombination. In higher eukaryotes, meiosis and the production of gametes with allelic combinations different from parental type provides the side effect of increased genetic variation. In fungi it appears that while the maintenance of meiosis is paramount for success, outcrossing is not a driving force. In the subkingdom Dikarya, fungal members are characterized by existence of a dikaryon for extended stages within the life cycle. Such fungi possess functional or, in some cases, relictual, loci that govern sexual reproduction between members of their own species. All mating systems identified so far in the Dikarya employ a pheromone/receptor system for haploid organisms to recognize a compatible mating partner, although the paradigm in the Ascomycota, e.g., Saccharomyces cerevisiae, is that genes for the pheromone precursor and receptor are not found in the mating-type locus but rather are regulated by its products. Similarly, the mating systems in the Ascomycota are bipolar, with two non-allelic idiomorphs expressed in cells of opposite mating type. In contrast, for the Basidiomycota, both bipolar and tetrapolar mating systems have been well characterized; further, at least one locus directly encodes the pheromone precursor and the receptor for the pheromone of a different mating type, while a separate locus encodes proteins that may regulate the first locus and/or additional genes required for downstream events. Heterozygosity at both of two unlinked loci is required for cells to productively mate in tetrapolar systems, whereas in bipolar systems the two loci are tightly linked. Finally, a trade-off exists in wild fungal populations between sexual reproduction and the associated costs, with adverse conditions leading to mating. For fungal mammal pathogens, the products of sexual reproduction can be targets for the host immune system. The opposite appears true for phytopathogenic fungi, where mating and pathogenicity are inextricably linked. Here, we explore, compare, and contrast different strategies used among the Dikarya, both saprophytic and pathogenic fungi, and highlight differences between pathogens of mammals and pathogens of plants, providing context for selective pressures acting on this interesting group of fungi.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Michael H. Perlin
- Department of Biology, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, United States
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25
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Post-meiotic DNA double-strand breaks are conserved in fission yeast. Int J Biochem Cell Biol 2018; 98:24-28. [PMID: 29474927 DOI: 10.1016/j.biocel.2018.02.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2017] [Revised: 02/09/2018] [Accepted: 02/15/2018] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
In mammals, spermiogenesis is characterized by transient formation of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) in the whole population of haploid spermatids. DSB repair in such haploid context may represent a mutational transition. Using a combination of pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and specific labelling of DSBs at 3'OH DNA ends, we showed that post-meiotic, enzyme-induced DSBs are also observed in the synchronizable pat1-114 mutant of Shizosaccharomyces pombe as well as in a wild-type strain, while DNA repair is observed at later stages. This transient DNA fragmentation arises in the whole cell population and is seemingly independent of the caspase apoptotic pathway. Because histones are still present in spores, the transient DSBs do not require a major change in chromatin structure. These observations confirm the highly-conserved nature of the process in eukaryotes and provide a powerful model to study the underlying mechanism and its impact on the genetic landscape and adaptation.
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26
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Abstract
Cell differentiation in yeast species is controlled by a reversible, programmed DNA-rearrangement process called mating-type switching. Switching is achieved by two functionally similar but structurally distinct processes in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. In both species, haploid cells possess one active and two silent copies of the mating-type locus (a three-cassette structure), the active locus is cleaved, and synthesis-dependent strand annealing is used to replace it with a copy of a silent locus encoding the opposite mating-type information. Each species has its own set of components responsible for regulating these processes. In this review, we summarize knowledge about the function and evolution of mating-type switching components in these species, including mechanisms of heterochromatin formation, MAT locus cleavage, donor bias, lineage tracking, and environmental regulation of switching. We compare switching in these well-studied species to others such as Kluyveromyces lactis and the methylotrophic yeasts Ogataea polymorpha and Komagataella phaffii. We focus on some key questions: Which cells switch mating type? What molecular apparatus is required for switching? Where did it come from? And what is the evolutionary purpose of switching?
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27
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Chen L, Zhang YH, Huang T, Cai YD. Identifying novel protein phenotype annotations by hybridizing protein-protein interactions and protein sequence similarities. Mol Genet Genomics 2016; 291:913-34. [PMID: 26728152 DOI: 10.1007/s00438-015-1157-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/18/2015] [Accepted: 12/08/2015] [Indexed: 01/18/2023]
Abstract
Studies of protein phenotypes represent a central challenge of modern genetics in the post-genome era because effective and accurate investigation of protein phenotypes is one of the most critical procedures to identify functional biological processes in microscale, which involves the analysis of multifactorial traits and has greatly contributed to the development of modern biology in the post genome era. Therefore, we have developed a novel computational method that identifies novel proteins associated with certain phenotypes in yeast based on the protein-protein interaction network. Unlike some existing network-based computational methods that identify the phenotype of a query protein based on its direct neighbors in the local network, the proposed method identifies novel candidate proteins for a certain phenotype by considering all annotated proteins with this phenotype on the global network using a shortest path (SP) algorithm. The identified proteins are further filtered using both a permutation test and their interactions and sequence similarities to annotated proteins. We compared our method with another widely used method called random walk with restart (RWR). The biological functions of proteins for each phenotype identified by our SP method and the RWR method were analyzed and compared. The results confirmed a large proportion of our novel protein phenotype annotation, and the RWR method showed a higher false positive rate than the SP method. Our method is equally effective for the prediction of proteins involving in all the eleven clustered yeast phenotypes with a quite low false positive rate. Considering the universality and generalizability of our supporting materials and computing strategies, our method can further be applied to study other organisms and the new functions we predicted can provide pertinent instructions for the further experimental verifications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lei Chen
- School of Life Sciences, Shanghai University, Shanghai, 200444, People's Republic of China. .,College of Information Engineering, Shanghai Maritime University, Shanghai, 201306, People's Republic of China.
| | - Yu-Hang Zhang
- Institute of Health Sciences, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200031, People's Republic of China
| | - Tao Huang
- Institute of Health Sciences, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200031, People's Republic of China
| | - Yu-Dong Cai
- School of Life Sciences, Shanghai University, Shanghai, 200444, People's Republic of China.
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28
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Knight SJ, Goddard MR. Sporulation in soil as an overwinter survival strategy in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. FEMS Yeast Res 2015; 16:fov102. [PMID: 26568201 PMCID: PMC5815064 DOI: 10.1093/femsyr/fov102] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/09/2015] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Due to its commercial value and status as a research model there is an extensive body of knowledge concerning Saccharomyces cerevisiae's cell biology and genetics. Investigations into S. cerevisiae's ecology are comparatively lacking, and are mostly focused on the behaviour of this species in high sugar, fruit-based environments; however, fruit is ephemeral, and presumably, S. cerevisiae has evolved a strategy to survive when this niche is not available. Among other places, S. cerevisiae has been isolated from soil which, in contrast to fruit, is a permanent habitat. We hypothesize that S. cerevisiae employs a life history strategy targeted at self-preservation rather than growth outside of the fruit niche, and resides in forest niches, such as soil, in a dormant and resistant sporulated state, returning to fruit via vectors such as insects. One crucial aspect of this hypothesis is that S. cerevisiae must be able to sporulate in the ‘forest’ environment. Here, we provide the first evidence for a natural environment (soil) where S. cerevisiae sporulates. While there are further aspects of this hypothesis that require experimental verification, this is the first step towards an inclusive understanding of the more cryptic aspects of S. cerevisiae's ecology. The ability of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to sporulate in soil supports a ‘fruit forest-reservoir’ life-cycle.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah J Knight
- School of Biological Sciences, The University of Auckland, Auckland 1142, New Zealand;
| | - Matthew R Goddard
- School of Biological Sciences, The University of Auckland, Auckland 1142, New Zealand; School of Life Sciences, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, LN6 7DL, UK
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29
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Developmental Coordination of Gamete Differentiation with Programmed Cell Death in Sporulating Yeast. EUKARYOTIC CELL 2015; 14:858-67. [PMID: 26092920 DOI: 10.1128/ec.00068-15] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/17/2015] [Accepted: 06/17/2015] [Indexed: 02/05/2023]
Abstract
The gametogenesis program of the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, also known as sporulation, employs unusual internal meiotic divisions, after which all four meiotic products differentiate within the parental cell. We showed previously that sporulation is typically accompanied by the destruction of discarded immature meiotic products through their exposure to proteases released from the mother cell vacuole, which undergoes an apparent programmed rupture. Here we demonstrate that vacuolar rupture contributes to de facto programmed cell death (PCD) of the meiotic mother cell itself. Meiotic mother cell PCD is accompanied by an accumulation of depolarized mitochondria, organelle swelling, altered plasma membrane characteristics, and cytoplasmic clearance. To ensure that the gametes survive the destructive consequences of developing within a cell that is executing PCD, we hypothesized that PCD is restrained from occurring until spores have attained a threshold degree of differentiation. Consistent with this hypothesis, gene deletions that perturb all but the most terminal postmeiotic spore developmental stages are associated with altered PCD. In these mutants, meiotic mother cells exhibit a delay in vacuolar rupture and then appear to undergo an alternative form of PCD associated with catastrophic consequences for the underdeveloped spores. Our findings reveal yeast sporulation as a context of bona fide PCD that is developmentally coordinated with gamete differentiation.
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Genetic architecture of ethanol-responsive transcriptome variation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains. Genetics 2014; 198:369-82. [PMID: 24970865 DOI: 10.1534/genetics.114.167429] [Citation(s) in RCA: 52] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Natural variation in gene expression is pervasive within and between species, and it likely explains a significant fraction of phenotypic variation between individuals. Phenotypic variation in acute systemic responses can also be leveraged to reveal physiological differences in how individuals perceive and respond to environmental perturbations. We previously found extensive variation in the transcriptomic response to acute ethanol exposure in two wild isolates and a common laboratory strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Many expression differences persisted across several modules of coregulated genes, implicating trans-acting systemic differences in ethanol sensing and/or response. Here, we conducted expression QTL mapping of the ethanol response in two strain crosses to identify the genetic basis for these differences. To understand systemic differences, we focused on "hotspot" loci that affect many transcripts in trans. Candidate causal regulators contained within hotspots implicate upstream regulators as well as downstream effectors of the ethanol response. Overlap in hotspot targets revealed additive genetic effects of trans-acting loci as well as "epi-hotspots," in which epistatic interactions between two loci affected the same suites of downstream targets. One epi-hotspot implicated interactions between Mkt1p and proteins linked to translational regulation, prompting us to show that Mkt1p localizes to P bodies upon ethanol stress in a strain-specific manner. Our results provide a glimpse into the genetic architecture underlying natural variation in a stress response and present new details on how yeast respond to ethanol stress.
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The path to triacylglyceride obesity in the sta6 strain of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. EUKARYOTIC CELL 2014; 13:591-613. [PMID: 24585881 DOI: 10.1128/ec.00013-14] [Citation(s) in RCA: 114] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
When the sta6 (starch-null) strain of the green microalga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is nitrogen starved in acetate and then "boosted" after 2 days with additional acetate, the cells become "obese" after 8 days, with triacylglyceride (TAG)-filled lipid bodies filling their cytoplasm and chloroplasts. To assess the transcriptional correlates of this response, the sta6 strain and the starch-forming cw15 strain were subjected to RNA-Seq analysis during the 2 days prior and 2 days after the boost, and the data were compared with published reports using other strains and growth conditions. During the 2 h after the boost, ∼425 genes are upregulated ≥2-fold and ∼875 genes are downregulated ≥2-fold in each strain. Expression of a small subset of "sensitive" genes, encoding enzymes involved in the glyoxylate and Calvin-Benson cycles, gluconeogenesis, and the pentose phosphate pathway, is responsive to culture conditions and genetic background as well as to boosting. Four genes-encoding a diacylglycerol acyltransferase (DGTT2), a glycerol-3-P dehydrogenase (GPD3), and two candidate lipases (Cre03.g155250 and Cre17.g735600)-are selectively upregulated in the sta6 strain. Although the bulk rate of acetate depletion from the medium is not boost enhanced, three candidate acetate permease-encoding genes in the GPR1/FUN34/YaaH superfamily are boost upregulated, and 13 of the "sensitive" genes are strongly responsive to the cell's acetate status. A cohort of 64 autophagy-related genes is downregulated by the boost. Our results indicate that the boost serves both to avert an autophagy program and to prolong the operation of key pathways that shuttle carbon from acetate into storage lipid, the combined outcome being enhanced TAG accumulation, notably in the sta6 strain.
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Meyer RE, Dawson DS. Attaching to spindles before they form: do early incorrect chromosome-microtubule attachments promote meiotic segregation fidelity? Cell Cycle 2013; 12:2011-5. [PMID: 23759585 DOI: 10.4161/cc.25252] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The proper partitioning of the genome during meiosis depends on the correct segregation of chromosomes. Errors in this process result in the production of aneuploid gametes, a major cause of birth defects and infertility in humans. In order to segregate properly in meiosis, homologous chromosome partners must attach to microtubules that emanate from opposites poles of the spindle. However, a recent study in yeast has shown that, remarkably, the initial attachments between microtubules and the chromosomes are usually incorrect, which would lead to catastrophic segregation errors, but they are nearly always corrected through the detachment and reattachment of the microtubules. Here we review the reasons for the initial incorrect attachments, which stem from the timing of their formation early in the spindle assembly process, and the fact that the microtubule organizers, called spindle pole bodies in yeast, are not equal. One spindle pole body is older and better able to produce microtubules that attach to the chromosomes. We draw parallels to recent findings in animal cells and suggest that these early microtubule attachments, while often incorrect, may serve an important role in spindle assembly, which, in the long-term, promotes high-fidelity chromosome segregation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Régis E Meyer
- Cell Cycle and Cancer Biology; Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation; Oklahoma City, OK, USA
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Meyer RE, Kim S, Obeso D, Straight PD, Winey M, Dawson DS. Mps1 and Ipl1/Aurora B act sequentially to correctly orient chromosomes on the meiotic spindle of budding yeast. Science 2013; 339:1071-4. [PMID: 23371552 DOI: 10.1126/science.1232518] [Citation(s) in RCA: 62] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
The conserved kinases Mps1 and Ipl1/Aurora B are critical for enabling chromosomes to attach to microtubules so that partner chromosomes will be segregated correctly from each other, but the precise roles of these kinases have been unclear. We imaged live yeast cells to elucidate the stages of chromosome-microtubule interactions and their regulation by Ipl1 and Mps1 through meiosis I. Ipl1 was found to release kinetochore-microtubule (kMT) associations after meiotic entry, liberating chromosomes to begin homologous pairing. Surprisingly, most chromosome pairs began their spindle interactions with incorrect kMT attachments. Ipl1 released these improper connections, whereas Mps1 triggered the formation of new force-generating microtubule attachments. This microtubule release and reattachment cycle could prevent catastrophic chromosome segregation errors in meiosis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Régis E Meyer
- Department of Cell Cycle and Cancer Biology, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Oklahoma City, OK 73104, USA
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Eastwood M, Cheung S, Lee K, Moffat J, Meneghini M. Developmentally Programmed Nuclear Destruction during Yeast Gametogenesis. Dev Cell 2012; 23:35-44. [DOI: 10.1016/j.devcel.2012.05.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2011] [Revised: 02/08/2012] [Accepted: 05/07/2012] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
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Acetate regulation of spore formation is under the control of the Ras/cyclic AMP/protein kinase A pathway and carbon dioxide in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. EUKARYOTIC CELL 2012; 11:1021-32. [PMID: 22660623 DOI: 10.1128/ec.05240-11] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the Ras/cyclic AMP (cAMP)/protein kinase A (PKA) pathway is a nutrient-sensitive signaling cascade that regulates vegetative growth, carbohydrate metabolism, and entry into meiosis. How this pathway controls later steps of meiotic development is largely unknown. Here, we have analyzed the role of the Ras/cAMP/PKA pathway in spore formation by the meiosis-specific manipulation of Ras and PKA or by the disturbance of cAMP production. We found that the regulation of spore formation by acetate takes place after commitment to meiosis and depends on PKA and appropriate A kinase activation by Ras/Cyr1 adenylyl cyclase but not by activation through the Gpa2/Gpr1 branch. We further discovered that spore formation is regulated by carbon dioxide/bicarbonate, and an analysis of mutants defective in acetate transport (ady2Δ) or carbonic anhydrase (nce103Δ) provided evidence that these metabolites are involved in connecting the nutritional state of the meiotic cell to spore number control. Finally, we observed that the potential PKA target Ady1 is required for the proper localization of the meiotic plaque proteins Mpc70 and Spo74 at spindle pole bodies and for the ability of these proteins to initiate spore formation. Overall, our investigation suggests that the Ras/cAMP/PKA pathway plays a crucial role in the regulation of spore formation by acetate and indicates that the control of meiotic development by this signaling cascade takes places at several steps and is more complex than previously anticipated.
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Abstract
In response to nitrogen starvation in the presence of a poor carbon source, diploid cells of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae undergo meiosis and package the haploid nuclei produced in meiosis into spores. The formation of spores requires an unusual cell division event in which daughter cells are formed within the cytoplasm of the mother cell. This process involves the de novo generation of two different cellular structures: novel membrane compartments within the cell cytoplasm that give rise to the spore plasma membrane and an extensive spore wall that protects the spore from environmental insults. This article summarizes what is known about the molecular mechanisms controlling spore assembly with particular attention to how constitutive cellular functions are modified to create novel behaviors during this developmental process. Key regulatory points on the sporulation pathway are also discussed as well as the possible role of sporulation in the natural ecology of S. cerevisiae.
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Rappaport N, Barkai N. Disentangling signaling gradients generated by equivalent sources. J Biol Phys 2011; 38:267-78. [PMID: 23450187 DOI: 10.1007/s10867-011-9240-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2011] [Accepted: 08/23/2011] [Indexed: 10/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Yeast cells approach a mating partner by polarizing along a gradient of mating pheromones that are secreted by cells of the opposite mating type. The Bar1 protease is secreted by a-cells and, paradoxically, degrades the α-factor pheromones which are produced by cells of the opposite mating type and trigger mating in a-cells. This degradation may assist in the recovery from pheromone signaling but has also been shown to play a positive role in mating. Previous studies suggested that widely diffusing protease can bias the pheromone gradient towards the closest secreting cell. Here, we show that restricting the Bar1 protease to the secreting cell itself, preventing its wide diffusion, facilitates discrimination between equivalent mating partners. This may be mostly relevant during spore germination, where most mating events occur in nature.
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Affiliation(s)
- Noa Rappaport
- Departments of Molecular Genetics and Physics of Complex Systems, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, 76100 Israel
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Haarer B, Aggeli D, Viggiano S, Burke DJ, Amberg DC. Novel interactions between actin and the proteasome revealed by complex haploinsufficiency. PLoS Genet 2011; 7:e1002288. [PMID: 21966278 PMCID: PMC3178594 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1002288] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/18/2011] [Accepted: 07/29/2011] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been a powerful model for uncovering the landscape of binary gene interactions through whole-genome screening. Complex heterozygous interactions are potentially important to human genetic disease as loss-of-function alleles are common in human genomes. We have been using complex haploinsufficiency (CHI) screening with the actin gene to identify genes related to actin function and as a model to determine the prevalence of CHI interactions in eukaryotic genomes. Previous CHI screening between actin and null alleles for non-essential genes uncovered ∼240 deleterious CHI interactions. In this report, we have extended CHI screening to null alleles for essential genes by mating a query strain to sporulations of heterozygous knock-out strains. Using an act1Δ query, knock-outs of 60 essential genes were found to be CHI with actin. Enriched in this collection were functional categories found in the previous screen against non-essential genes, including genes involved in cytoskeleton function and chaperone complexes that fold actin and tubulin. Novel to this screen was the identification of genes for components of the TFIID transcription complex and for the proteasome. We investigated a potential role for the proteasome in regulating the actin cytoskeleton and found that the proteasome physically associates with actin filaments in vitro and that some conditional mutations in proteasome genes have gross defects in actin organization. Whole-genome screening with actin as a query has confirmed that CHI interactions are important phenotypic drivers. Furthermore, CHI screening is another genetic tool to uncover novel functional connections. Here we report a previously unappreciated role for the proteasome in affecting actin organization and function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brian Haarer
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Upstate Medical University, State University of New York, Syracuse, New York, United States of America
| | - Dimitra Aggeli
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Upstate Medical University, State University of New York, Syracuse, New York, United States of America
| | - Susan Viggiano
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Upstate Medical University, State University of New York, Syracuse, New York, United States of America
| | - Daniel J. Burke
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Virginia Medical Center, Charlottesville, Virginia, United States of America
| | - David C. Amberg
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Upstate Medical University, State University of New York, Syracuse, New York, United States of America
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Knop M. Yeast cell morphology and sexual reproduction--a short overview and some considerations. C R Biol 2011; 334:599-606. [PMID: 21819940 DOI: 10.1016/j.crvi.2011.05.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2010] [Accepted: 03/21/2011] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
Over the decades, basic research in life sciences has profited greatly from the study of the small unicellular fungal species Saccharomyces cerevisiae. This yeast turned out to be key for the identification and understanding of molecular mechanisms that underlay the basic functions of all eukaryotic cells. These include, but are not limited to, the regulatory mechanisms behind cellular reproduction (cell cycle control), cellular morphogenesis (cell polarity, cytoskeleton and membrane trafficking) and the management of cellular information (chromosome biology, transcription and translation). Rapid access to genomic information of many yeast species, combined with bioinformatics analyses, provide information on the evolutionary history of yeasts and the molecular ancestry of their constituents. The availability of a comprehensive list of experimental procedures for these organisms presents now a unique opportunity to learn about variations of molecular processes on an evolutionary scale. Yeast cell morphology is another interesting factor, since cellular shapes influence the interactions with the environment on all levels. In this overview article I provide a short summary of the relevant aspects of yeast cell morphology, in particular in relation to one of the most influencing processes, cellular reproduction by mating and meiosis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Knop
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Meyerhofstr 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany.
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40
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Lang GI, Murray AW. Mutation rates across budding yeast chromosome VI are correlated with replication timing. Genome Biol Evol 2011; 3:799-811. [PMID: 21666225 PMCID: PMC3170098 DOI: 10.1093/gbe/evr054] [Citation(s) in RCA: 114] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Previous experimental studies suggest that the mutation rate is nonuniform across the yeast genome. To characterize this variation across the genome more precisely, we measured the mutation rate of the URA3 gene integrated at 43 different locations tiled across Chromosome VI. We show that mutation rate varies 6-fold across a single chromosome, that this variation is correlated with replication timing, and we propose a model to explain this variation that relies on the temporal separation of two processes for replicating past damaged DNA: error-free DNA damage tolerance and translesion synthesis. This model is supported by the observation that eliminating translesion synthesis decreases this variation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gregory I Lang
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
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Abstract
Ime2 of the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae belongs to a family of conserved protein kinases displaying sequence similarities to both cyclin-dependent kinases and mitogen-activated protein kinases. Ime2 has a pivotal role for meiosis and sporulation. The involvement of this protein kinase in the regulation of various key events in meiosis, such as the initiation of DNA replication, the expression of meiosis-specific genes and the passage through the two consecutive rounds of nuclear divisions has been characterized in detail. More than 20 years after the identification of the IME2 gene, a recent report has provided the first evidence for a function of this gene outside of meiosis, which is the regulation of pseudohyphal growth. In the last few years, Ime2-related protein kinases from various fungal species were studied. Remarkably, these homologues are not generally required for meiosis, but instead have other specific tasks. In filamentous ascomycete species, Ime2 homologues are involved in the inhibition of fruiting body formation in response to environmental signals. In the pathogenic basidiomycetes Ustilago maydis and Cryptococcus neoformans, members of this kinase family apparently have primary roles in regulating mating. Thus, Ime2-related kinases exhibit an amazing variety in controlling sexual developmental programs in fungi.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stefan Irniger
- Institute of Microbiology and Genetics, Georg August University, Grisebachstr. 8, D-37077 Göttingen, Germany.
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42
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Jungbluth M, Renicke C, Taxis C. Targeted protein depletion in Saccharomyces cerevisiae by activation of a bidirectional degron. BMC SYSTEMS BIOLOGY 2010; 4:176. [PMID: 21190544 PMCID: PMC3024245 DOI: 10.1186/1752-0509-4-176] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/16/2010] [Accepted: 12/29/2010] [Indexed: 12/04/2022]
Abstract
Background Tools for in vivo manipulation of protein abundance or activity are highly beneficial for life science research. Protein stability can be efficiently controlled by conditional degrons, which induce target protein degradation at restrictive conditions. Results We used the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae for development of a conditional, bidirectional degron to control protein stability, which can be fused to the target protein N-terminally, C-terminally or placed internally. Activation of the degron is achieved by cleavage with the tobacco etch virus (TEV) protease, resulting in quick proteolysis of the target protein. We found similar degradation rates of soluble substrates using destabilization by the N- or C-degron. C-terminal tagging of essential yeast proteins with the bidirectional degron resulted in deletion-like phenotypes at non-permissive conditions. Developmental process-specific mutants were created by N- or C-terminal tagging of essential proteins with the bidirectional degron in combination with sporulation-specific production of the TEV protease. Conclusions We developed a system to influence protein abundance and activity genetically, which can be used to create conditional mutants, to regulate the fate of single protein domains or to design artificial regulatory circuits. Thus, this method enhances the toolbox to manipulate proteins in systems biology approaches considerably.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marc Jungbluth
- Department of Genetics, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany
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Mathieson EM, Schwartz C, Neiman AM. Membrane assembly modulates the stability of the meiotic spindle-pole body. J Cell Sci 2010; 123:2481-90. [PMID: 20592185 DOI: 10.1242/jcs.062794] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Spore formation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae is driven by de novo assembly of new membranes termed prospore membranes. A vesicle-docking complex called the meiosis II outer plaque (MOP) forms on the cytoplasmic faces of the spindle-pole bodies at the onset of meiosis II and serves as the initiation site for membrane formation. In this study, a fluorescence-recovery assay was used to demonstrate that the dynamics of the MOP proteins change coincident with the coalescence of precursor vesicles into a membrane. Proteins within the MOP exchange freely with a soluble pool prior to membrane assembly, but after membranes are formed they remain stably within the MOP. By contrast, constitutive spindle-pole-body proteins display low exchange in both conditions. The MOP component Ady4p plays a role in maintaining the integrity of the MOP complex, but this role differs depending on whether the MOP is associated with docked vesicles or a fully formed membrane. These results suggest an architectural rearrangement of the MOP coincident with vesicle fusion.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erin M Mathieson
- Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794-5215, USA
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Klutstein M, Siegfried Z, Gispan A, Farkash-Amar S, Zinman G, Bar-Joseph Z, Simchen G, Simon I. Combination of genomic approaches with functional genetic experiments reveals two modes of repression of yeast middle-phase meiosis genes. BMC Genomics 2010; 11:478. [PMID: 20716365 PMCID: PMC3091674 DOI: 10.1186/1471-2164-11-478] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/02/2010] [Accepted: 08/17/2010] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Regulation of meiosis and sporulation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a model for a highly regulated developmental process. Meiosis middle phase transcriptional regulation is governed by two transcription factors: the activator Ndt80 and the repressor Sum1. It has been suggested that the competition between Ndt80 and Sum1 determines the temporal expression of their targets during middle meiosis. Results Using a combination of ChIP-on-chip and expression profiling, we characterized a middle phase transcriptional network and studied the relationship between Ndt80 and Sum1 during middle and late meiosis. While finding a group of genes regulated by both factors in a feed forward loop regulatory motif, our data also revealed a large group of genes regulated solely by Ndt80. Measuring the expression of all Ndt80 target genes in various genetic backgrounds (WT, sum1Δ and MK-ER-Ndt80 strains), allowed us to dissect the exact transcriptional network regulating each gene, which was frequently different than the one inferred from the binding data alone. Conclusion These results highlight the need to perform detailed genetic experiments to determine the relative contribution of interactions in transcriptional regulatory networks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Klutstein
- Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, The Institute for Medical Research-Israel-Canada, The Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem, Israel
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Murphy HA, Zeyl CW. Yeast sex: surprisingly high rates of outcrossing between asci. PLoS One 2010; 5:e10461. [PMID: 20463964 PMCID: PMC2864747 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0010461] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2010] [Accepted: 04/08/2010] [Indexed: 02/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Saccharomyces yeasts are an important model system in many areas of biological research. Very little is known about their ecology and evolution in the wild, but interest in this natural history is growing. Extensive work with lab strains in the last century uncovered the Saccharomyces life cycle. When nutrient limited, a diploid yeast cell will form four haploid spores encased in a protective outer layer called the ascus. Confinement within the ascus is thought to enforce mating between products of the same meiotic division, minimizing outcrossing in this stage of the life cycle. Methodology/Principal Findings Using a set of S. cerevisiae and S. paradoxus strains isolated from woodlands in North America, we set up trials in which pairs of asci were placed in contact with one another and allowed to germinate. We observed outcrossing in ∼40% of the trials, and multiple outcrossing events in trials with three asci in contact with each other. When entire populations of densely crowded asci germinated, ∼10–25% of the resulting colonies were outcrossed. There were differences between the species with S. cerevisiae having an increased tendency to outcross in mass mating conditions. Conclusions/Significance Our results highlight the potential for random mating between spores in natural strains, even in the presence of asci. If this type of mating does occur in nature and it is between close relatives, then a great deal of mating behavior may be undetectable from genome sequences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Helen A. Murphy
- Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States of America
- * E-mail:
| | - Clifford W. Zeyl
- Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States of America
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Katz Ezov T, Chang SL, Frenkel Z, Segrè AV, Bahalul M, Murray AW, Leu JY, Korol A, Kashi Y. Heterothallism in Saccharomyces cerevisiae isolates from nature: effect of HO locus on the mode of reproduction. Mol Ecol 2009; 19:121-31. [PMID: 20002587 DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-294x.2009.04436.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
Understanding the evolution of sex and recombination, key factors in the evolution of life, is a major challenge in biology. Studies of reproduction strategies of natural populations are important to complement the theoretical and experimental models. Fungi with both sexual and asexual life cycles are an interesting system for understanding the evolution of sex. In a study of natural populations of yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, we found that the isolates are heterothallic, meaning their mating type is stable, while the general belief is that natural S. cerevisiae strains are homothallic (can undergo mating-type switching). Mating-type switching is a gene-conversion process initiated by a site-specific endonuclease HO; this process can be followed by mother-daughter mating. Heterothallic yeast can mate with unrelated haploids (amphimixis), or undergo mating between spores from the same tetrad (intratetrad mating, or automixis), but cannot undergo mother-daughter mating as homothallic yeasts can. Sequence analysis of HO gene in a panel of natural S. cerevisiae isolates revealed multiple mutations. Good correspondence was found in the comparison of population structure characterized using 19 microsatellite markers spread over eight chromosomes and the HO sequence. Experiments that tested whether the mating-type switching pathway upstream and downstream of HO is functional, together with the detected HO mutations, strongly suggest that loss of function of HO is the cause of heterothallism. Furthermore, our results support the hypothesis that clonal reproduction and intratetrad mating may predominate in natural yeast populations, while mother-daughter mating might not be as significant as was considered.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tal Katz Ezov
- Department of Biotechnology and Food Engineering, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 32000, Israel
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Fungal meiosis and parasexual reproduction--lessons from pathogenic yeast. Curr Opin Microbiol 2009; 12:599-607. [PMID: 19892588 DOI: 10.1016/j.mib.2009.09.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2009] [Revised: 09/09/2009] [Accepted: 09/14/2009] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
Meiosis is an integral part of sexual reproduction in eukaryotic species. It performs the dual functions of halving the genetic content in the cell, as well as increasing genetic diversity by promoting recombination between chromosome homologs. Despite extensive studies of meiosis in model yeast, it is now apparent that both the regulation of meiosis and the machinery mediating recombination have significantly diverged, even between closely related species. To highlight this, we discuss new studies on sex in Candida species, a diverse collection of hemiascomycetes that are related to Saccharomyces cerevisiae and are important human pathogens. These provide new insights into the most conserved, as well as the most plastic, aspects of meiosis, meiotic recombination, and related parasexual processes.
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48
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Keller PJ, Knop M. Evolution of mutational robustness in the yeast genome: a link to essential genes and meiotic recombination hotspots. PLoS Genet 2009; 5:e1000533. [PMID: 19557188 PMCID: PMC2694357 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1000533] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2008] [Accepted: 05/22/2009] [Indexed: 01/21/2023] Open
Abstract
Deleterious mutations inevitably emerge in any evolutionary process and are speculated to decisively influence the structure of the genome. Meiosis, which is thought to play a major role in handling mutations on the population level, recombines chromosomes via non-randomly distributed hot spots for meiotic recombination. In many genomes, various types of genetic elements are distributed in patterns that are currently not well understood. In particular, important (essential) genes are arranged in clusters, which often cannot be explained by a functional relationship of the involved genes. Here we show by computer simulation that essential gene (EG) clustering provides a fitness benefit in handling deleterious mutations in sexual populations with variable levels of inbreeding and outbreeding. We find that recessive lethal mutations enforce a selective pressure towards clustered genome architectures. Our simulations correctly predict (i) the evolution of non-random distributions of meiotic crossovers, (ii) the genome-wide anti-correlation of meiotic crossovers and EG clustering, (iii) the evolution of EG enrichment in pericentromeric regions and (iv) the associated absence of meiotic crossovers (cold centromeres). Our results furthermore predict optimal crossover rates for yeast chromosomes, which match the experimentally determined rates. Using a Saccharomyces cerevisiae conditional mutator strain, we show that haploid lethal phenotypes result predominantly from mutation of single loci and generally do not impair mating, which leads to an accumulation of mutational load following meiosis and mating. We hypothesize that purging of deleterious mutations in essential genes constitutes an important factor driving meiotic crossover. Therefore, the increased robustness of populations to deleterious mutations, which arises from clustered genome architectures, may provide a significant selective force shaping crossover distribution. Our analysis reveals a new aspect of the evolution of genome architectures that complements insights about molecular constraints, such as the interference of pericentromeric crossovers with chromosome segregation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Philipp J. Keller
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Cell Biology and Biophysics Unit, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Michael Knop
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Cell Biology and Biophysics Unit, Heidelberg, Germany
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Abstract
Asymmetric cell division is of fundamental importance in biology as it allows for the establishment of separate cell lineages during the development of multicellular organisms. Although microbial systems, including the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, are excellent models of asymmetric cell division, this phenotype occurs in all cell divisions; consequently, models of lineage-specific segregation patterns in these systems do not exist. Here, we report the first example of lineage-specific asymmetric division in yeast. We used fluorescent tags to show that components of the yeast kinetochore, the protein complex that anchors chromosomes to the mitotic spindle, divide asymmetrically in a single postmeiotic lineage. This phenotype is not seen in vegetatively dividing haploid or diploid cells. This kinetochore asymmetry suggests a mechanism for the selective segregation of sister centromeres to daughter cells to establish different cell lineages or fates. These results provide a mechanistic link between lineage-defining asymmetry of metazoa with unicellular eukaryotes.
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50
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Barral Y, Liakopoulos D. Role of spindle asymmetry in cellular dynamics. INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF CELL AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY 2009; 278:149-213. [PMID: 19815179 DOI: 10.1016/s1937-6448(09)78004-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/14/2023]
Abstract
The mitotic spindle is mostly perceived as a symmetric structure. However, in many cell divisions, the two poles of the spindle organize asters with different dynamics, associate with different biomolecules or subcellular domains, and perform different functions. In this chapter, we describe some of the most prominent examples of spindle asymmetry. These are encountered during cell-cycle progression in budding and fission yeast and during asymmetric cell divisions of stem cells and embryos. We analyze the molecular mechanisms that lead to generation of spindle asymmetry and discuss the importance of spindle-pole differentiation for the correct outcome of cell division.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yves Barral
- Institute of Biochemistry, ETH Hönggerberg, HPM, CH-8093 Zurich, Switzerland
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