| Title: | Ratiometric GPCR signaling enables directional sensing in yeast |
| Author(s): | Henderson NT; Pablo M; Ghose D; Clark-Cotton MR; Zyla TR; Nolen J; Elston TC; Lew DJ; |
| Address: | "Department of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America. Department of Chemistry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States of America. Program in Molecular and Cellular Biophysics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States of America. Department of Mathematics, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America. Department of Pharmacology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States of America" |
| DOI: | 10.1371/journal.pbio.3000484 |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1545-7885 (Electronic) 1544-9173 (Print) 1544-9173 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Accurate detection of extracellular chemical gradients is essential for many cellular behaviors. Gradient sensing is challenging for small cells, which can experience little difference in ligand concentrations on the up-gradient and down-gradient sides of the cell. Nevertheless, the tiny cells of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae reliably decode gradients of extracellular pheromones to find their mates. By imaging the behavior of polarity factors and pheromone receptors, we quantified the accuracy of initial polarization during mating encounters. We found that cells bias the orientation of initial polarity up-gradient, even though they have unevenly distributed receptors. Uneven receptor density means that the gradient of ligand-bound receptors does not accurately reflect the external pheromone gradient. Nevertheless, yeast cells appear to avoid being misled by responding to the fraction of occupied receptors rather than simply the concentration of ligand-bound receptors. Such ratiometric sensing also serves to amplify the gradient of active G protein. However, this process is quite error-prone, and initial errors are corrected during a subsequent indecisive phase in which polarity clusters exhibit erratic mobile behavior" |
| Keywords: | "Cell Cycle Proteins/genetics/metabolism Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor Proteins/genetics/metabolism *Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal *Genes, Mating Type, Fungal Genes, Reporter Green Fluorescent Proteins/genetics/metabolism Guanine Nucleotide Exchan;" |
| Notes: | "MedlineHenderson, Nicholas T Pablo, Michael Ghose, Debraj Clark-Cotton, Manuella R Zyla, Trevin R Nolen, James Elston, Timothy C Lew, Daniel J eng R35 GM127145/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ HHMI/Howard Hughes Medical Institute/ R01 GM103870/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ T32 GM008570/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ R35 GM122488/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't 2019/10/18 PLoS Biol. 2019 Oct 17; 17(10):e3000484. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3000484. eCollection 2019 Oct" |
