Effects of methylphosphonate, a phosphate analogue, on the expression and degradation of the high-affinity phosphate transporter Pho84, in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Phosphate Homeostasis - A Vital Metabolic Equilibrium Maintained Through the INPHORS Signaling Pathway

Cells face major changes in demand for and supply of inorganic phosphate (P_i). P_i is often a limiting nutrient in the environment, particularly for plants and microorganisms. At the same time, the need for phosphate varies, establishing conflicts of goals. Cells experience strong peaks of P_i demand, e.g., during the S-phase, when DNA, a highly abundant and phosphate-rich compound, is duplicated. While cells must satisfy these P_i demands, they must safeguard themselves against an excess of P_i in the cytosol. This is necessary because P_i is a product of all nucleotide-hydrolyzing reactions. An accumulation of P_i shifts the equilibria of these reactions and reduces the free energy that they can provide to drive endergonic metabolic reactions. Thus, while P_i starvation may simply retard growth and division, an elevated cytosolic P_i concentration is potentially dangerous for cells because it might stall metabolism. Accordingly, the consequences of perturbed cellular P_i homeostasis are severe. In eukaryotes, they range from lethality in microorganisms such as yeast (Sethuraman et al., 2001; Hürlimann, 2009), severe growth retardation and dwarfism in plants (Puga et al., 2014; Liu et al., 2015; Wild et al., 2016) to neurodegeneration or renal Fanconi syndrome in humans (Legati et al., 2015; Ansermet et al., 2017). Intracellular P_i homeostasis is thus not only a fundamental topic of cell biology but also of growing interest for medicine and agriculture.

Inorganic Phosphate and Sulfate Transport in S. cerevisiae

Inorganic ions such as phosphate and sulfate are essential macronutrients required for a broad spectrum of cellular functions and their regulation. In a constantly fluctuating environment microorganisms have for their survival developed specific nutrient sensing and transport systems ensuring that the cellular nutrient needs are met. This chapter focuses on the S. cerevisiae plasma membrane localized transporters, of which some are strongly induced under conditions of nutrient scarcity and facilitate the active uptake of inorganic phosphate and sulfate. Recent advances in studying the properties of the high-affinity phosphate and sulfate transporters by means of site-directed mutagenesis have provided further insight into the molecular mechanisms contributing to substrate selectivity and transporter functionality of this important class of membrane transporters.

Differentiating phosphate-dependent and phosphate-independent systemic phosphate-starvation response networks in Arabidopsis thaliana through the application of phosphite

Phosphite is a less oxidized form of phosphorus than phosphate. Phosphite is considered to be taken up by the plant through phosphate transporters. It can mimic phosphate to some extent, but it is not metabolized into organophosphates. Phosphite could therefore interfere with phosphorus signalling networks. Typical physiological and transcriptional responses to low phosphate availability were investigated and the short-term kinetics of their reversion by phosphite, compared with phosphate, were determined in both roots and shoots of Arabidopsis thaliana. Phosphite treatment resulted in a strong growth arrest. It mimicked phosphate in causing a reduction in leaf anthocyanins and in the expression of a subset of the phosphate-starvation-responsive genes. However, the kinetics of the response were slower than for phosphate, which may be due to discrimination against phosphite by phosphate transporters PHT1;8 and PHT1;9 causing delayed shoot accumulation of phosphite. Transcripts encoding PHT1;7, lipid-remodelling enzymes such as SQD2, and phosphocholine-producing NMT3 were highly responsive to phosphite, suggesting their regulation by a direct phosphate-sensing network. Genes encoding components associated with the 'PHO regulon' in plants, such as At4, IPS1, and PHO1;H1, generally responded more slowly to phosphite than to phosphate, except for SPX1 in roots and MIR399d in shoots. Two uncharacterized phosphate-responsive E3 ligase genes, PUB35 and C3HC4, were also highly phosphite responsive. These results show that phosphite is a valuable tool to identify network components directly responsive to phosphate.

Activation of MKK9-MPK3/MPK6 enhances phosphate acquisition in Arabidopsis thaliana

Despite the abundance of phosphorus in soil, very little is available as phosphate (Pi) for plants. Plants often experience low Pi (LP) stress. Intensive studies have been conducted to reveal the mechanism used by plants to deal with LP; however, Pi sensing and signal transduction pathways are not fully understood. Using in-gel kinase assays, we determined the activities of MPK3 and MPK6 in Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings under both LP and Pi-sufficient (Murashige and Skoog, MS) conditions. Using MKK9 mutant transgenic and crossed mutants, we analyzed the functions of MPK3 and MPK6 in regulating Pi responses of seedlings. The regulation of Pi responses by downstream components of MKK9-MPK3/MPK6 was also screened. LP treatment activated MPK3 and MPK6. Under both LP and MS conditions, mpk3 and mpk6 seedlings took up and accumulated less Pi than the wild-type; activation of MKK9-MPK3/MPK6 in transgenic seedlings induced the transcription of Pi acquisition-related genes and enhanced Pi uptake and accumulation, whereas its activation suppressed the transcription of anthocyanin biosynthetic genes and anthocyanin accumulation; WRKY75 was downstream of MKK9-MPK3/MPK6 when regulating the accumulation of Pi and anthocyanin, and the transcription of Pi acquisition-related and anthocyanin biosynthetic genes. These results suggest that the MKK9-MPK3/MPK6 cascade is part of the Pi signaling pathway in plants.

Phosphate sensing

Human phosphate homeostasis is regulated at the level of intestinal absorption of phosphate from the diet, release of phosphate through bone resorption, and renal phosphate excretion, and involves the actions of parathyroid hormone, 1,25-dihydroxy-vitamin D, and fibroblast growth factor 23 to maintain circulating phosphate levels within a narrow normal range, which is essential for numerous cellular functions, for the growth of tissues and for bone mineralization. Prokaryotic and single cellular eukaryotic organisms such as bacteria and yeast "sense" ambient phosphate with a multi-protein complex located in their plasma membrane, which modulates the expression of genes important for phosphate uptake and metabolism (pho pathway). Database searches based on amino acid sequence conservation alone have been unable to identify metazoan orthologs of the bacterial and yeast phosphate sensors. Thus, little is known about how human and other metazoan cells sense inorganic phosphate to regulate the effects of phosphate on cell metabolism ("metabolic" sensing) or to regulate the levels of extracellular phosphate through feedback system(s) ("endocrine" sensing). Whether the "metabolic" and the "endocrine" sensor use the same or different signal transduction cascades is unknown. This article will review the bacterial and yeast phosphate sensors, and then discuss what is currently known about the metabolic and endocrine effects of phosphate in multicellular organisms and human beings.

Signaling network in sensing phosphate availability in plants

Plants acquire phosphorus in the form of phosphate (Pi), the concentration of which is often limited for plant uptake. Plants have developed diverse responses to conserve and remobilize internal Pi and to enhance Pi acquisition to secure them against Pi deficiency. These responses are achieved by the coordination of an elaborate signaling network comprising local and systemic machineries. Recent advances have revealed several important components involved in this network. Pi functions as a signal to report its own availability. miR399 and sugars act as systemic signals to regulate responses occurring in roots. Hormones also play crucial roles in modulating gene expression and in altering root system architecture. Transcription factors function as a hub to perceive the signals and to elicit steady outputs. In this review, we outline the current knowledge on this subject and present hypotheses pertaining to other potential signals and to the organization and coordination of signaling.

New aspects on phosphate sensing and signalling in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The mechanism involved in the cellular phosphate response of Saccharomyces cerevisiae forms part of the PHO pathway, which upon expression allows a co-ordinated cellular response and adaptation to changes in availability of external phosphate. Although genetic studies and analyses of the S. cerevisiae genome have produced much information on the components of the PHO pathway, little is known about how cells sense the environmental phosphate level and the mechanistic regulation of phosphate acquisition. Recent studies emphasize different levels in phosphate sensing and signalling in response to external phosphate fluctuations. This review integrates all these findings into a model involving rapid and long-term effects of phosphate sensing and signalling in S. cerevisiae. The model describes in particular how yeast cells are able to adjust phosphate acquisition by integrating the status of the intracellular phosphate pools together with the extracellular phosphate concentration.

Inhibition of the protein kinase A alters the degradation of the high-affinity phosphate transporter Pho84 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, nutrient sensing is the major factor controlling cell growth and proliferation. It has been shown that phosphate signalling involves the activation of the protein kinase A (PKA) in response to an elevation of external phosphate when cells have experienced a severe phosphate limitation. Addition of phosphate or its non-metabolized analogue, methylphosphonate (MP), to cells grown under phosphate limitation triggers degradation of the Pho84 phosphate transporter and represses the acidic phosphatase activity. In this study we have shown that of the five inorganic phosphate transporters (Pho84, Pho87, Pho89, Pho90, Pho91) of the plasma membrane, only Pho84 is required for the MP recognition and repression of the acidic phosphatase activity. By use of the PKA inhibitor H89, we demonstrate that down-regulation and degradation of the Pho84 transporter, in response to an elevation of external phosphate, is delayed by the inhibition of PKA. In contrast, down-regulation of the acidic phosphatase is under these conditions not affected by the PKA inhibition. Altogether, these observations suggest that the PKA signalling pathway plays a role in conveying the signal for the down-regulation and degradation of the Pho84 transporter in the vacuolar compartment in response to altered phosphate availability in the external environment.