Transcriptional response of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to the plasma membrane-perturbing compound chitosan

Cellular processes and pathways that protect Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells against the plasma membrane-perturbing compound chitosan

Global fitness analysis makes use of a genomic library of tagged deletion strains. We used this approach to study the effect of chitosan, which causes plasma membrane stress. The data were analyzed using T-profiler, which was based on determining the sensitivities of groups of deletion strains to chitosan, as defined by Gene Ontology (GO) and by genomic synthetic lethality screens, in combination with t statistics. The chitosan-hypersensitive groups included a group of deletion strains characterized by a defective HOG (high-osmolarity glycerol) signaling pathway, indicating that the HOG pathway is required for counteracting chitosan-induced stress. Consistent with this, activation of this pathway in wild-type cells by hypertonic conditions offered partial protection against chitosan, whereas hypotonic conditions sensitized the cells to chitosan. Other chitosan-hypersensitive groups were defective in RNA synthesis and processing, actin cytoskeleton organization, protein N-glycosylation, ergosterol synthesis, endocytosis, or cell wall formation, predicting that these cellular functions buffer the cell against the deleterious effect of chitosan. These predictions were supported by showing that tunicamycin, miconazole, and staurosporine (which target protein N-glycosylation, ergosterol synthesis, and the cell wall integrity pathway, respectively) sensitized Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells to chitosan. Intriguingly, the GO-defined group of deletion strains belonging to the "cytosolic large ribosomal subunit" was more resistant to chitosan. We propose that global fitness analysis of yeast in combination with T-profiler is a powerful tool to identify specific cellular processes and pathways that are required for survival under stress conditions.

Signaling alkaline pH stress in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae through the Wsc1 cell surface sensor and the Slt2 MAPK pathway

Alkalinization of the external environment represents a stress situation for Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Adaptation to this circumstance involves the activation of diverse response mechanisms, the components of which are still largely unknown. We show here that mutation of members of the cell integrity Pkc1/Slt2 MAPK module, as well as upstream and downstream elements of the system, confers sensitivity to alkali. Alkalinization resulted in fast and transient activation of the Slt2 MAPK, which depended on the integrity of the kinase module and was largely abolished by sorbitol. Lack of Wsc1, removal of specific extracellular and intracellular domains, or substitution of Tyr(303) in this putative membrane stress sensor rendered cells sensitive to alkali and considerably decreased alkali-induced Slt2 activation. In contrast, constitutive activation of Slt2 by the bck1-20 allele increased pH tolerance in the wsc1 mutant. DNA microarray analysis revealed that several genes encoding cell wall proteins, such as GSC2/FKS2, DFG5, SKT5, and CRH1, were induced, at least in part, by high pH in an Slt2-dependent manner. We observed that dfg5, skt5, and particularly dfg5 skt5 cells were alkali-sensitive. Therefore, our results show that an alkaline environment imposes a stress condition on the yeast cell wall. We propose that the Slt2-mediated MAPK pathway plays an important role in the adaptive response to this insult and that Wsc1 participates as an essential cell-surface pH sensor. Moreover, these results provide a new example of the complexity of the response of budding yeast to the alkalinization of the environment.

Transcriptional Profiling of the Protein Phosphatase 2C Family in Yeast Provides Insights into the Unique Functional Roles of Ptc1

Type 2C protein phosphatases are encoded in Saccharomyces cerevisiae by several related genes (PTC1-5 and PTC7). To gain insight into the functions attributable to specific members of this gene family, we have investigated the transcriptional profiles of ptc1-5 mutants. Two main patterns were obtained as follows: the one generated by the ptc1 mutation and the one resulting from the lack of Ptc2-5. ptc4 and ptc5 profiles were quite similar, whereas that of ptc2 was less related to this group. Mutation of PTC1 resulted in increased expression of numerous genes that are also induced by cell wall damage, such as YKL161c, SED1, or CRH1, as well as in higher amounts of active Slt2 mitogen-activated protein kinase, indicating that lack of the phosphatase activates the cell wall integrity pathway. ptc1 cells were even more sensitive than slt2 mutants to a number of cell wall-damaging agents, and both mutations had additive effects. The sensitivity of ptc1 cells was not dependent on Hog1. Besides these phenotypes, we observed that calcineurin was hyperactivated in ptc1 cells, which were also highly sensitive to calcium ions, heavy metals, and alkaline pH, and exhibited a random haploid budding pattern. Remarkably, many of these traits are found in certain mutants with impaired vacuolar function. As ptc1 cells also display fragmented vacuoles, we hypothesized that lack of Ptc1 would primarily cause vacuolar malfunction, from which other phenotypes would derive. In agreement with this scenario, overexpression of VPS73, a gene of unknown function involved in vacuolar protein sorting, largely rescues not only vacuolar fragmentation but also sensitivity to cell wall damage, high calcium, alkaline pH, as well as other ptc1-specific phenotypes.

Cell organisation, sulphur metabolism and ion transport-related genes are differentially expressed in Paracoccidioides brasiliensis mycelium and yeast cells

BACKGROUND

Mycelium-to-yeast transition in the human host is essential for pathogenicity by the fungus Paracoccidioides brasiliensis and both cell types are therefore critical to the establishment of paracoccidioidomycosis (PCM), a systemic mycosis endemic to Latin America. The infected population is of about 10 million individuals, 2% of whom will eventually develop the disease. Previously, transcriptome analysis of mycelium and yeast cells resulted in the assembly of 6,022 sequence groups. Gene expression analysis, using both in silico EST subtraction and cDNA microarray, revealed genes that were differential to yeast or mycelium, and we discussed those involved in sugar metabolism. To advance our understanding of molecular mechanisms of dimorphic transition, we performed an extended analysis of gene expression profiles using the methods mentioned above.

RESULTS

In this work, continuous data mining revealed 66 new differentially expressed sequences that were MIPS(Munich Information Center for Protein Sequences)-categorised according to the cellular process in which they are presumably involved. Two well represented classes were chosen for further analysis: (i) control of cell organisation - cell wall, membrane and cytoskeleton, whose representatives were hex (encoding for a hexagonal peroxisome protein), bgl (encoding for a 1,3-beta-glucosidase) in mycelium cells; and ags (an alpha-1,3-glucan synthase), cda (a chitin deacetylase) and vrp (a verprolin) in yeast cells; (ii) ion metabolism and transport - two genes putatively implicated in ion transport were confirmed to be highly expressed in mycelium cells - isc and ktp, respectively an iron-sulphur cluster-like protein and a cation transporter; and a putative P-type cation pump (pct) in yeast. Also, several enzymes from the cysteine de novo biosynthesis pathway were shown to be up regulated in the yeast form, including ATP sulphurylase, APS kinase and also PAPS reductase.

CONCLUSION

Taken together, these data show that several genes involved in cell organisation and ion metabolism/transport are expressed differentially along dimorphic transition. Hyper expression in yeast of the enzymes of sulphur metabolism reinforced that this metabolic pathway could be important for this process. Understanding these changes by functional analysis of such genes may lead to a better understanding of the infective process, thus providing new targets and strategies to control PCM.

Transcriptome profiling of Saccharomyces cerevisiae during a transition from fermentative to glycerol-based respiratory growth reveals extensive metabolic and structural remodeling

Transcriptome analyses using a wild-type strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae were performed to assess the overall pattern of gene expression during the transition from glucose-based fermentative to glycerol-based respiratory growth. These experiments revealed a complex suite of metabolic and structural changes associated with the adaptation process. Alterations in gene expression leading to remodeling of various membrane transport systems and the cortical actin cytoskeleton were observed. Transition to respiratory growth was accompanied by alterations in transcript patterns demonstrating not only a general stress response, as seen in earlier studies, but also the oxidative and osmotic stress responses. In some contrast to earlier studies, these experiments identified modulation of expression for many genes specifying transcription factors during the transition to glycerol-based growth. Importantly and unexpectedly, an ordered series of changes was seen in transcript levels from genes encoding components of the TFIID, SAGA (Spt-Ada-Gcn5-Acetyltransferase), and SLIK (Saga LIKe) complexes and all three RNA polymerases, suggesting a modulation of structure for the basal transcriptional machinery during adaptation to respiratory growth. In concert with data given in earlier studies, the results presented here highlight important aspects of metabolic and other adaptations to respiratory growth in yeast that are common to utilization of multiple carbon sources. Importantly, they also identify aspects specific to adaptation of this organism to growth on glycerol as sole carbon source.

Genome-wide expression profile of the mnn2 Delta mutant of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The MNN2 gene of S. cerevisiae encodes an alpha (1,2) mannosyl transferase required for branching the outer chain of N-linked oligosaccharides (Rayner J.C. and Munro S. 1998. J. Biol. Chem. 273: 26836-26843) and it also seems to have some effect on the transfer of mannosyl phosphate groups to the inner core (Olivero I. et al. 2000. FEBS Lett. 475: 111-116). In order to reveal possible interactions of MNN2 expression with other cellular pathways, we analyzed the transcriptome of the deletion mutant S. cerevisiae mnn2 Delta using cDNA microarrays. We found 151 genes that showed an altered expression level of > or =2-fold, 58 of them up-regulated and 93 down-regulated. Quite a high proportion of these genes (29%) encode unclassified proteins. In contrast to other defects affecting the integrity of the cell wall, deletion of MNN2 does not stimulate the expression of any of the genes included in the previously defined 'cell wall compensatory cluster' (Lagorce et al. 2003. J. Biol. Chem. 278: 20345-20357). We also found that 15% of the selected genes are related to central metabolic pathways. In addition, the mnn2 Delta strain seems to have a certain level of stimulation of DNA processing reactions while some genes involved in intracellular transport pathways are under-regulated.

Cell wall construction inSaccharomyces cerevisiae

In this review, we discuss new insights in cell wall architecture and cell wall construction in the ascomycetous yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Transcriptional profiling studies combined with biochemical work have provided ample evidence that the cell wall is a highly adaptable organelle. In particular, the protein population that is anchored to the stress-bearing polysaccharides of the cell wall, and forms the interface with the outside world, is highly diverse. This diversity is believed to play an important role in adaptation of the cell to environmental conditions, in growth mode and in survival. Cell wall construction is tightly controlled and strictly coordinated with progression of the cell cycle. This is reflected in the usage of specific cell wall proteins during consecutive phases of the cell cycle and in the recent discovery of a cell wall integrity checkpoint. When the cell is challenged with stress conditions that affect the cell wall, a specific transcriptional response is observed that includes the general stress response, the cell wall integrity pathway and the calcineurin pathway. This salvage mechanism includes increased expression of putative cell wall assemblases and some potential cross-linking cell wall proteins, and crucial changes in cell wall architecture. We discuss some more enzymes involved in cell wall construction and also potential inhibitors of these enzymes. Finally, we use both biochemical and genomic data to infer that the architectural principles used by S. cerevisiae to build its cell wall are also used by many other ascomycetous yeasts and also by some mycelial ascomycetous fungi.

The 'interactome' of the Knr4/Smi1, a protein implicated in coordinating cell wall synthesis with bud emergence in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The integrity of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae cell wall requires a functional Pkc1-Slt2 MAP kinase pathway that contributes to transient growth arrest, enabling coordination of cell division with cell wall remodelling. How this coordination takes place is still an open question. Recently, we brought evidence that Knr4 protein, whose absence leads to several cell wall defects, may play a role in this function. Here, we show that Knr4 is a monomeric protein that exhibits an aberrant mobility on a SDS-gel electrophoresis and a non-globular structure. Furthermore, Knr4 is an unstable protein that is degraded as cells enter the stationary phase of growth, while its corresponding gene is constitutively expressed. In exponentially growing cells on glucose, Knr4 appeared to be present in a protein complex that migrates with an apparent Mw superior to 250 kDa. Using the TAP-tag methodology, nine potential partners of Knr4 were identified, which could be distributed into three biological processes. A first group consisted of Slt2 and Pil1, two proteins dedicated to cell wall maintenance and biogenesis. The second group comprised four proteins (Bud6, Act1, Cin8 and Jnm1) implicated in the establishment of cell polarity and bud integrity during mitosis. The last group contained four proteins (Asc1, Ubc1, Hsc82 and Gvp36) that probably deal with the stability/degradation of proteins. Deletion analysis revealed that the domain of interaction covered 2/3 of the Knr4 sequence on the N-terminal side. Moreover, the replacement of the two in vivo phosphorylated Ser(200) and Ser(203) by alanines led to a mutated protein with reduced protein interactions and a weaker complementation ability towards knr4 null mutant phenotypes. These results together with previous data from genome scale two-hybrid and synthetic interaction screens support the notion that Knr4 is a regulatory protein that participates in the coordination of cell wall synthesis with bud emergence, and that this function may be modulated by phosphorylation of this protein.