| Title: | Yeast dynamically modify their environment to achieve better mating efficiency |
| Author(s): | Jin M; Errede B; Behar M; Mather W; Nayak S; Hasty J; Dohlman HG; Elston TC; |
| Address: | "Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA" |
| DOI: | 10.1126/scisignal.2001763 |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1937-9145 (Electronic) 1945-0877 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "The maintenance and detection of signaling gradients are critical for proper development and cell migration. In single-cell organisms, gradient detection allows cells to orient toward a distant mating partner or nutrient source. Budding yeast expand their growth toward mating pheromone gradients through a process known as chemotropic growth. MATalpha cells secrete alpha-factor pheromone that stimulates chemotropism and mating differentiation in MATa cells and vice versa. Paradoxically, MATa cells secrete Bar1, a protease that degrades alpha-factor and that attenuates the mating response, yet is also required for efficient mating. We observed that MATa cells avoid each other during chemotropic growth. To explore this behavior, we developed a computational platform to simulate chemotropic growth. Our simulations indicated that the release of Bar1 enabled individual MATa cells to act as alpha-factor sinks. The simulations suggested that the resultant local reshaping of pheromone concentration created gradients that were directed away from neighboring MATa cells (self-avoidance) and that were increasingly amplified toward partners of the opposite sex during elongation. The behavior of Bar1-deficient cells in gradient chambers and mating assays supported these predictions from the simulations. Thus, budding yeast dynamically remodel their environment to ensure productive responses to an external stimulus and avoid nonproductive cell-cell interactions" |
| Keywords: | Aspartic Acid Endopeptidases/genetics/metabolism Mating Factor Peptides/genetics/*metabolism *Proteolysis Saccharomyces cerevisiae/genetics/*metabolism Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins/genetics/metabolism; |
| Notes: | "MedlineJin, Meng Errede, Beverly Behar, Marcelo Mather, Will Nayak, Sujata Hasty, Jeff Dohlman, Henrik G Elston, Timothy C eng R01 GM079271/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ GM-073180/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ GM-079333/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ R01 GM079333/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ GM-079271/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ R01 GM084071/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ GM-084071/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ R01 GM073180/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural 2011/08/27 Sci Signal. 2011 Aug 16; 4(186):ra54. doi: 10.1126/scisignal.2001763" |
