A metabolic strategy to enhance long-term survival by Phx1 through stationary phase-specific pyruvate decarboxylases in fission yeast.

ABSTRACT: In the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe, the stationary phase-specific transcription factor Phx1 contributes to long-term survival, stress tolerance, and meiosis. We identified Phx1-dependent genes through transcriptome analysis, and further analyzed those related with carbohydrate and thiamine metabolism, whose expression decreased in ∆phx1. Consistent with mRNA changes, the level of thiamine pyrophosphate (TPP) and TPP-utilizing pyruvate decarboxylase activity that converts pyruvate to acetaldehyde were also reduced in the mutant. Therefore, Phx1 appears to shift metabolic flux by diverting pyruvate from the TCA cycle and respiration to ethanol fermentation. Among the four predicted genes for pyruvate decarboxylase, only the Phx1-dependent genes (pdc201+ and pdc202+) contributed t

SUBMITTER: Kim JY 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4153625 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature