Dataset Information

Galactose metabolic genes in yeast respond to a ratio of galactose and glucose.

ABSTRACT: Natural environments are filled with multiple, often competing, signals. In contrast, biological systems are often studied in "well-controlled" environments where only a single input is varied, potentially missing important interactions between signals. Catabolite repression of galactose by glucose is one of the best-studied eukaryotic signal integration systems. In this system, it is believed that galactose metabolic (GAL) genes are induced only when glucose levels drop below a threshold. In contrast, we show that GAL gene induction occurs at a constant external galactose:glucose ratio across a wide range of sugar concentrations. We systematically perturbed the components of the canonical galactose/glucose signaling pathways and found that these components do not account for ratio sensing. Instead we provide evidence that ratio sensing occurs upstream of the canonical signaling pathway and results from the competitive binding of the two sugars to hexose transporters. We show that a mutant that behaves as the classical model expects (i.e., cannot use galactose above a glucose threshold) has a fitness disadvantage compared with wild type. A number of common biological signaling motifs can give rise to ratio sensing, typically through negative interactions between opposing signaling molecules. We therefore suspect that this previously unidentified nutrient sensing paradigm may be common and overlooked in biology.

SUBMITTER: Escalante-Chong R

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4321281 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Galactose metabolic genes in yeast respond to a ratio of galactose and glucose.

Escalante-Chong Renan R Savir Yonatan Y Carroll Sean M SM Ingraham John B JB Wang Jue J Marx Christopher J CJ Springer Michael M

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20150120 5

Natural environments are filled with multiple, often competing, signals. In contrast, biological systems are often studied in "well-controlled" environments where only a single input is varied, potentially missing important interactions between signals. Catabolite repression of galactose by glucose is one of the best-studied eukaryotic signal integration systems. In this system, it is believed that galactose metabolic (GAL) genes are induced only when glucose levels drop below a threshold. In co ...[more]

PMID: 25605920

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Project description:This SuperSeries is composed of the following subset Series: GSE3205: Homeostatic Adjustment and Metabolic Remodeling in Glucose-limited Yeast Cultures Time Course 1 GSE3206: Homeostatic Adjustment and Metabolic Remodeling in Glucose-limited Yeast Cultures Time Course 2 Abstract: We studied the physiological response to glucose limitation in batch and steady-state (chemostat) cultures of Saccharomyces cerevisiae by following global patterns of gene expression. Glucose-limited batch cultures of yeast go through two sequential exponential growth phases, beginning with a largely fermentative phase, followed by an essentially completely aerobic use of residual glucose and evolved ethanol. Judging from the patterns of gene expression, the state of the cells growing at steady state in glucose-limited chemostats corresponds most closely with the state of cells in batch cultures just before they undergo this "diauxic shift." Essentially the same pattern was found between chemostats having a fivefold difference in steady-state growth rate (the lower rate approximating that of the second phase respiratory growth rate in batch cultures). Although in both cases the cells in the chemostat consumed most of the glucose, in neither case did they seem to be metabolizing it primarily through respiration. Although there was some indication of a modest oxidative stress response, the chemostat cultures did not exhibit the massive environmental stress response associated with starvation that also is observed, at least in part, during the diauxic shift in batch cultures. We conclude that despite the theoretical possibility of a switch to fully aerobic metabolism of glucose in the chemostat under conditions of glucose scarcity, homeostatic mechanisms are able to carry out metabolic adjustment as if fermentation of the glucose is the preferred option until the glucose is entirely depleted. These results suggest that some aspect of actual starvation, possibly a component of the stress response, may be required for triggering the metabolic remodeling associated with the diauxic shift. Refer to individual Series

Dataset Information

Galactose metabolic genes in yeast respond to a ratio of galactose and glucose.

Publications

Galactose metabolic genes in yeast respond to a ratio of galactose and glucose.

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