Mechanism of commitment to a mating partner in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

ABSTRACT: Many cells detect and follow gradients of chemical signals to perform their functions. Yeast cells use gradients of extracellular pheromones to locate mating partners, providing a tractable model for understanding how cells decode the spatial information in gradients. To mate, yeast cells must orient polarity toward the mating partner. Polarity sites are mobile, exploring the cell cortex until they reach the proper position, where they stop moving and "commit" to the partner. A simple model to explain commitment posits that a high concentration of pheromone is detected only upon alignment of partner cells' polarity sites and causes polarity site movement to stop. Here we explore how yeast cells respond to partners that make different amounts of pheromone. Commitment was surprisingly robust

SUBMITTER: Jacobs KC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9635292 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature