TY - JOUR

T1 - Mutations in cyr1 and pat1 reveal pheromone-induced G1 arrest in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe

AU - Davey, William John

AU - Nielsen, O

AU - Nielsen, Olaf

PY - 1994/8/1

Y1 - 1994/8/1

N2 - Investigations into sexual differentiation and pheromone response in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe are complicated by the need to first starve the cells of nitrogen. Most mating-related experiments are therefore performed on non-dividing cells. Here we overcome this problem by using two mutants that bypass the nutritional requirements and respond to the M-factor mating pheromone in rich medium. The first mutant lacks the cyr1 gene which encodes adenylate cyclase and these cells contain no measurable amounts of cAMP. When M-factor is added to a growing h+ cyr1- strain it causes a transient G1 arrest of cell division, transcription of mat1-Pm, and elongation of the cells to form shmoos. The second mutant contains the temperature-sensitive pat1-114 allele. At 30 degrees C this mutant was previously shown not only to bypass the nutritional signal but also to stop growing in a state derepressed for pheromone-controlled functions. We now report that an h+ pat1-114 strain growing mitotically at 23 degrees C responds to M-factor. This shows that the pat1 protein kinase can be tuned to derepress nutritional signalling while repressing the other stages in the differentiation process.

AB - Investigations into sexual differentiation and pheromone response in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe are complicated by the need to first starve the cells of nitrogen. Most mating-related experiments are therefore performed on non-dividing cells. Here we overcome this problem by using two mutants that bypass the nutritional requirements and respond to the M-factor mating pheromone in rich medium. The first mutant lacks the cyr1 gene which encodes adenylate cyclase and these cells contain no measurable amounts of cAMP. When M-factor is added to a growing h+ cyr1- strain it causes a transient G1 arrest of cell division, transcription of mat1-Pm, and elongation of the cells to form shmoos. The second mutant contains the temperature-sensitive pat1-114 allele. At 30 degrees C this mutant was previously shown not only to bypass the nutritional signal but also to stop growing in a state derepressed for pheromone-controlled functions. We now report that an h+ pat1-114 strain growing mitotically at 23 degrees C responds to M-factor. This shows that the pat1 protein kinase can be tuned to derepress nutritional signalling while repressing the other stages in the differentiation process.

KW - Adenylate Cyclase

KW - Cell Division

KW - Crosses, Genetic

KW - G1 Phase

KW - Genes, Fungal

KW - Kinetics

KW - Mutagenesis

KW - Peptides

KW - Pheromones

KW - Schizosaccharomyces

KW - Time Factors

KW - Transcription, Genetic

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 8001162

VL - 26

SP - 105

EP - 112

JO - Current Genetics

JF - Current Genetics

SN - 0172-8083

IS - 2

ER -