Behavior of a metabolic cycling population at the single cell level as visualized by fluorescent gene expression reporters

Studying the Human Microbiota: Advances in Understanding the Fundamentals, Origin, and Evolution of Biological Timekeeping

The recently observed circadian oscillations of the intestinal microbiota underscore the profound nature of the human-microbiome relationship and its importance for health. Together with the discovery of circadian clocks in non-photosynthetic gut bacteria and circadian rhythms in anucleated cells, these findings have indicated the possibility that virtually all microorganisms may possess functional biological clocks. However, they have also raised many essential questions concerning the fundamentals of biological timekeeping, its evolution, and its origin. This narrative review provides a comprehensive overview of the recent literature in molecular chronobiology, aiming to bring together the latest evidence on the structure and mechanisms driving microbial biological clocks while pointing to potential applications of this knowledge in medicine. Moreover, it discusses the latest hypotheses regarding the evolution of timing mechanisms and describes the functions of peroxiredoxins in cells and their contribution to the cellular clockwork. The diversity of biological clocks among various human-associated microorganisms and the role of transcriptional and post-translational timekeeping mechanisms are also addressed. Finally, recent evidence on metabolic oscillators and host-microbiome communication is presented.

INO80 Chromatin Remodeling Coordinates Metabolic Homeostasis with Cell Division

Adaptive survival requires the coordination of nutrient availability with expenditure of cellular resources. For example, in nutrient-limited environments, 50% of all S. cerevisiae genes synchronize and exhibit periodic bursts of expression in coordination with respiration and cell division in the yeast metabolic cycle (YMC). Despite the importance of metabolic and proliferative synchrony, the majority of YMC regulators are currently unknown. Here, we demonstrate that the INO80 chromatin-remodeling complex is required to coordinate respiration and cell division with periodic gene expression. Specifically, INO80 mutants have severe defects in oxygen consumption and promiscuous cell division that is no longer coupled with metabolic status. In mutant cells, chromatin accessibility of periodic genes, including TORC1-responsive genes, is relatively static, concomitant with severely attenuated gene expression. Collectively, these results reveal that the INO80 complex mediates metabolic signaling to chromatin to restrict proliferation to metabolically optimal states.

Metabolic rhythms: A framework for coordinating cellular function

Circadian clocks are widespread among eukaryotes and generally involve feedback loops coupled with metabolic processes and redox balance. The organising power of these oscillations has not only allowed organisms to anticipate day-night cycles, but also acts to temporally compartmentalise otherwise incompatible processes, enhance metabolic efficiency, make the system more robust to noise and propagate signals among cells. While daily rhythms and the function of the circadian transcription-translation loop have been the subject of extensive research over the past four decades, cycles of shorter period and respiratory oscillations, with which they are intertwined, have received less attention. Here, we describe features of yeast respiratory oscillations, which share many features with daily and 12 hr cellular oscillations in animal cells. This relatively simple system enables the analysis of dynamic rhythmic changes in metabolism, independent of cellular oscillations that are a product of the circadian transcription-translation feedback loop. Knowledge gained from studying ultradian oscillations in yeast will lead to a better understanding of the basic mechanistic principles and evolutionary origins of oscillatory behaviour among eukaryotes.

Flavin-based metabolic cycles are integral features of growth and division in single yeast cells

The yeast metabolic cycle (YMC) is a fascinating example of biological organization, in which cells constrain the function of specific genetic, protein and metabolic networks to precise temporal windows as they grow and divide. However, understanding the intracellular origins of the YMC remains a challenging goal, as measuring the oxygen oscillations traditionally associated with it requires the use of synchronized cultures growing in nutrient-limited chemostat environments. To address these limitations, we used custom-built microfluidic devices and time-lapse fluorescence microscopy to search for metabolic cycling in the form of endogenous flavin fluorescence in unsynchronized single yeast cells. We uncovered robust and pervasive metabolic cycles that were synchronized with the cell division cycle (CDC) and oscillated across four different nutrient conditions. We then studied the response of these metabolic cycles to chemical and genetic perturbations, showing that their phase synchronization with the CDC can be altered through treatment with rapamycin, and that metabolic cycles continue even in respiratory deficient strains. These results provide a foundation for future studies of the physiological importance of metabolic cycles in processes such as CDC control, metabolic regulation and cell aging.

A minimal "push-pull" bistability model explains oscillations between quiescent and proliferative cell states

A minimal model for oscillating between quiescent and growth/proliferation states, dependent on the availability of a central metabolic resource, is presented. From the yeast metabolic cycles, metabolic oscillations in oxygen consumption are represented as transitions between quiescent and growth states. We consider metabolic resource availability, growth rates, and switching rates (between states) to model a relaxation oscillator explaining transitions between these states. This frustrated bistability model reveals a required communication between the metabolic resource that determines oscillations and the quiescent and growth state cells. Cells in each state reflect memory, or hysteresis of their current state, and “push–pull” cells from the other state. Finally, a parsimonious argument is made for a specific central metabolite as the controller of switching between quiescence and growth states. We discuss how an oscillator built around the availability of such a metabolic resource is sufficient to generally regulate oscillations between growth and quiescence through committed transitions.

Autonomous Metabolic Oscillations Robustly Gate the Early and Late Cell Cycle

Eukaryotic cell division is known to be controlled by the cyclin/cyclin dependent kinase (CDK) machinery. However, eukaryotes have evolved prior to CDKs, and cells can divide in the absence of major cyclin/CDK components. We hypothesized that an autonomous metabolic oscillator provides dynamic triggers for cell-cycle initiation and progression. Using microfluidics, cell-cycle reporters, and single-cell metabolite measurements, we found that metabolism of budding yeast is a CDK-independent oscillator that oscillates across different growth conditions, both in synchrony with and also in the absence of the cell cycle. Using environmental perturbations and dynamic single-protein depletion experiments, we found that the metabolic oscillator and the cell cycle form a system of coupled oscillators, with the metabolic oscillator separately gating and maintaining synchrony with the early and late cell cycle. Establishing metabolism as a dynamic component within the cell-cycle network opens new avenues for cell-cycle research and therapeutic interventions for proliferative disorders.

Enzyme oscillation can enhance the thermodynamic efficiency of cellular metabolism: consequence of anti-phase coupling between reaction flux and affinity

Cells generally convert nutrient resources to products via energy transduction. Accordingly, the thermodynamic efficiency of this conversion process is one of the most essential characteristics of living organisms. However, although these processes occur under conditions of dynamic metabolism, most studies of cellular thermodynamic efficiency have been restricted to examining steady states; thus, the relevance of dynamics to this efficiency has not yet been elucidated. Here, we develop a simple model of metabolic reactions with anabolism-catabolism coupling catalyzed by enzymes. Through application of external oscillation in the enzyme abundances, the thermodynamic efficiency of metabolism was found to be improved. This result is in strong contrast with that observed in the oscillatory input, in which the efficiency always decreased with oscillation. This improvement was effectively achieved by separating the anabolic and catabolic reactions, which tend to disequilibrate each other, and taking advantage of the temporal oscillations so that each of the antagonistic reactions could progress near equilibrium. In this case, anti-phase oscillation between the reaction flux and chemical affinity through oscillation of enzyme abundances is essential. This improvement was also confirmed in a model capable of generating autonomous oscillations in enzyme abundances. Finally, the possible relevance of the improvement in thermodynamic efficiency is discussed with respect to the potential for manipulation of metabolic oscillations in microorganisms.

Decoding the stem cell quiescence cycle--lessons from yeast for regenerative biology

In the past decade, major advances have occurred in the understanding of mammalian stem cell biology, but roadblocks (including gaps in our fundamental understanding) remain in translating this knowledge to regenerative medicine. Interestingly, a close analysis of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae literature leads to an appreciation of how much yeast biology has contributed to the conceptual framework underpinning our understanding of stem cell behavior, to the point where such insights have been internalized into the realm of the known. This Opinion article focuses on one such example, the quiescent adult mammalian stem cell, and examines concepts underlying our understanding of quiescence that can be attributed to studies in yeast. We discuss the metabolic, signaling and gene regulatory events that control entry and exit into quiescence in yeast. These processes and events retain remarkable conservation and conceptual parallels in mammalian systems, and collectively suggest a regulated program beyond the cessation of cell division. We argue that studies in yeast will continue to not only reveal fundamental concepts in quiescence, but also leaven progress in regenerative medicine.

Interplay between cellular redox oscillations and circadian clocks

The circadian clock is a cellular timekeeping mechanism that helps organisms from bacteria to humans to organize their behaviour and physiology around the solar cycle. Current models for circadian timekeeping incorporate transcriptional/translational feedback loop mechanisms in the predominant model systems. However, recent evidence suggests that non-transcriptional oscillations such as metabolic and redox cycles may play a fundamental role in circadian timekeeping. Peroxiredoxins, an antioxidant protein family, undergo rhythmic oxidation on the circadian time scale in a variety of species, including bacteria, insects and mammals, but also in red blood cells, a naturally occurring, non-transcriptional system. The profound interconnectivity between circadian and redox pathways strongly suggests that a conserved timekeeping mechanism based on redox cycles could be integral to generating circadian rhythms.

Gene expression analysis using strains constructed by NHEJ-mediated one-step promoter cloning in the yeast Kluyveromyces marxianus

Gene expression analysis provides valuable information to evaluate cellular state. Unlike quantitative mRNA analysis techniques like reverse-transcription PCR and microarray, expression analysis using a reporter gene has not been commonly used for multiple-gene analysis, probably due to the difficulty in preparing multiple reporter-gene constructs. To circumvent this problem, we developed a novel one-step reporter-gene construction system mediated by non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) in the yeast Kluyveromyces marxianus. As a selectable reporter gene, the ScURA3 selection marker was fused in frame with a red fluorescent gene yEmRFP (ScURA3:yEmRFP). The N-terminally truncated ScURA3:yEmRFP fragment was prepared by PCR. Promoter sequences were also prepared by PCR using primers containing the sequence of the deleted ScURA3 N-terminus to attach at their 3(') ends. The two DNA fragments were used for the transformation of a ura3(-) strain of K. marxianus, in which two DNA fragments are randomly joined and integrated into the chromosome through NHEJ. Only the correctly aligned fragments produced transformants on uracil-deficient medium and expressed red fluorescence under the control of the introduced promoters. A total of 36 gene promoters involved in glycolysis and other pathways were analyzed. Fluorescence measurements of these strains allowed real-time gene expression analysis in different culture conditions.

Transcription mediated insulation and interference direct gene cluster expression switches

In yeast, many tandemly arranged genes show peak expression in different phases of the metabolic cycle (YMC) or in different carbon sources, indicative of regulation by a bi-modal switch, but it is not clear how these switches are controlled. Using native elongating transcript analysis (NET-seq), we show that transcription itself is a component of bi-modal switches, facilitating reciprocal expression in gene clusters. HMS2, encoding a growth-regulated transcription factor, switches between sense- or antisense-dominant states that also coordinate up- and down-regulation of transcription at neighbouring genes. Engineering HMS2 reveals alternative mono-, di- or tri-cistronic and antisense transcription units (TUs), using different promoter and terminator combinations, that underlie state-switching. Promoters or terminators are excluded from functional TUs by read-through transcriptional interference, while antisense TUs insulate downstream genes from interference. We propose that the balance of transcriptional insulation and interference at gene clusters facilitates gene expression switches during intracellular and extracellular environmental change.

DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.03635.001

A DNA double helix is made up of two DNA strands, which in turn are made of molecules that are each known by a single letter—A, T, C, or G. The sequence of these ‘letters’ in each DNA strand contains biological information.

Genes are sections of DNA that can be ‘expressed’ to produce proteins and RNA molecules. To express a gene, the DNA strands in the double helix must first be partially separated so that one of them can be used as a template to build an RNA molecule in a process called transcription. Either of the DNA strands in a helix can be used as an RNA template, but contain different genes and are read in opposite directions. One of the two strands is called the ‘sense’ strand, the other the ‘antisense’ strand.

The RNA molecule does not transcribe a whole DNA strand; instead, it transcribes a section of DNA, known as a transcription unit, which contains at least one gene. The end of a transcription unit is marked by certain signals that stop transcription. However, some transcription units in a DNA strand overlap, so there must be some way that the transcription machinery can sometimes ignore these stop signals.

The activity of some genes is linked to the activity of their immediate neighbours. Furthermore, some genes are expressed in different amounts in response to changes in environmental conditions. Researchers have previously suggested that there must be some form of switch that controls when these genes are expressed.

Nguyen et al. now engineer start and stop signals at a neighbouring pair of genes, called HMS2 and BAT2, in yeast. When one gene is switched on, the other is switched off and which gene is active depends on the diet of the yeast cells.

On the antisense DNA strand opposite to HMS2 is another gene, SUT650. Nguyen et al. show that when this gene is transcribed, the transcription of HMS2 on the other DNA strand is blocked. This has the knock-on effect of turning on BAT2. Conversely, transcribing HMS2 switches off SUT650 and BAT2 because the end of HMS2 overlaps with the beginning of both SUT650 and BAT2. Switching between different genes relies on loops that physically link the start and stop signals of the gene to be transcribed while ignoring the start and stop signals for neighbouring genes.

Proteins called transcription factors can bind to DNA and affect whether a gene is transcribed. Nguyen et al. found that a transcription factor that binds near the start of the HMS2 gene helps to control which DNA strand is transcribed. When transcription factors do not bind to the start of HMS2, antisense transcription—and the expression of SUT650—occurs instead.

Overall, Nguyen et al. show that the transcription process itself makes up part of a switch that can control the expression of several genes on both the sense and antisense strands of a DNA double helix. This may also explain how many other, more complex, gene networks are activated in response to changes in the environment.

DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.03635.002

High-temporal-resolution view of transcription and chromatin states across distinct metabolic states in budding yeast

Under continuous, glucose-limited conditions, budding yeast exhibit robust metabolic cycles associated with major oscillations of gene expression. How such fluctuations are linked to changes in chromatin status is not well understood. Here we examine the correlated genome-wide transcription and chromatin states across the yeast metabolic cycle at unprecedented temporal resolution, revealing a 'just-in-time supply chain' by which components from specific cellular processes such as ribosome biogenesis become available in a highly coordinated manner. We identify distinct chromatin and splicing patterns associated with different gene categories and determine the relative timing of chromatin modifications relative to maximal transcription. There is unexpected variation in the chromatin modification and expression relationship, with histone acetylation peaks occurring with varying timing and 'sharpness' relative to RNA expression both within and between cycle phases. Chromatin-modifier occupancy reveals subtly distinct spatial and temporal patterns compared to those of the modifications themselves.

Regulation of glucose-dependent gene expression by the RNA helicase Dbp2 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Cellular homeostasis requires a fine balance between energy uptake, utilization, and growth. Dbp2 is a member of the DEAD-box protein family in Saccharomyces cerevisiae with characterized ATPase and helicase activity in vitro. DEAD-box RNA helicases are a class of enzymes that utilize ATP hydrolysis to remodel RNA and/or RNA-protein (RNP) composition. Dbp2 has been proposed to utilize its helicase activity in vivo to promote RNA-protein complex assembly of both messenger (m)RNAs and long noncoding (lnc)RNAs. Previous work from our laboratory demonstrated that loss of DBP2 enhances the lncRNA-dependent transcriptional induction of the GAL genes by abolishing glucose-dependent repression. Herein, we report that either a carbon source switch or glucose deprivation results in rapid export of Dbp2 to the cytoplasm. Genome-wide RNA sequencing identified a new class of antisense hexose transporter transcripts that are specifically upregulated upon loss of DBP2. Further investigation revealed that both sense and antisense hexose transporter (HXT) transcripts are aberrantly expressed in DBP2-deficient cells and that this expression pathway can be partially mimicked in wild-type cells by glucose depletion. We also find that Dbp2 promotes ribosome biogenesis and represses alternative ATP-producing pathways, as loss of DBP2 alters the transcript levels of ribosome biosynthesis (snoRNAs and associated proteins) and respiration gene products. This suggests that Dbp2 is a key integrator of nutritional status and gene expression programs required for energy homeostasis.

Visible light alters yeast metabolic rhythms by inhibiting respiration

Exposure of cells to visible light in nature or in fluorescence microscopy often is considered to be relatively innocuous. However, using the yeast respiratory oscillation (YRO) as a sensitive measurement of metabolism, we find that non-UV visible light has a significant impact on yeast metabolism. Blue/green wavelengths of visible light shorten the period and dampen the amplitude of the YRO, which is an ultradian rhythm of cell metabolism and transcription. The wavelengths of light that have the greatest effect coincide with the peak absorption regions of cytochromes. Moreover, treating yeast with the electron transport inhibitor sodium azide has similar effects on the YRO as visible light. Because impairment of respiration by light would change several state variables believed to play vital roles in the YRO (e.g., oxygen tension and ATP levels), we tested oxygen's role in YRO stability and found that externally induced oxygen depletion can reset the phase of the oscillation, demonstrating that respiratory capacity plays a role in the oscillation's period and phase. Light-induced damage to the cytochromes also produces reactive oxygen species that up-regulate the oxidative stress response gene TRX2 that is involved in pathways that enable sustained growth in bright visible light. Therefore, visible light can modulate cellular rhythmicity and metabolism through unexpectedly photosensitive pathways.

Driving the cell cycle through metabolism

For unicellular organisms, the decision to enter the cell cycle can be viewed most fundamentally as a metabolic problem. A cell must assess its nutritional and metabolic status to ensure it can synthesize sufficient biomass to produce a new daughter cell. The cell must then direct the appropriate metabolic outputs to ensure completion of the division process. Herein, we discuss the changes in metabolism that accompany entry to, and exit from, the cell cycle for the unicellular eukaryote Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Studies of budding yeast under continuous, slow-growth conditions have provided insights into the essence of these metabolic changes at unprecedented temporal resolution. Some of these mechanisms by which cell growth and proliferation are coordinated with metabolism are likely to be conserved in multicellular organisms. An improved understanding of the metabolic basis of cell cycle control promises to reveal fundamental principles governing tumorigenesis, metazoan development, niche expansion, and many additional aspects of cell and organismal growth control.

Systems approaches for the study of metabolic cycles in yeast

Over four decades ago, the first oscillations in metabolism in yeast cells were reported. Since then, multiple forms of oscillatory behavior have been observed in yeast grown under a variety of continuous culturing environments. The remarkable synchrony of cells undergoing such oscillations has made them ideal subjects for investigation using systems-based approaches. Herein, we briefly summarize previous work on the characterization of such oscillations using systems approaches, and present the long-period, Yeast Metabolic Cycle as an excellent model system for deciphering the temporal organization of fundamental cellular and metabolic processes at unprecedented resolution.