Filamentous invasive growth of mutants of the genes encoding ammonia-metabolizing enzymes in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe.

The fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe undergoes a switch from yeast to filamentous invasive growth in response to certain environmental stimuli. Among them is ammonium limitation. Amt1, one of the three ammonium transporters in this yeast, is required for the ammonium limitation-induced morpho...

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Main Authors: Yoshie Sasaki, Ayumi Kojima, Yuriko Shibata, Hiroshi Mitsuzawa
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2017-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC5628922?pdf=render
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author Yoshie Sasaki
Ayumi Kojima
Yuriko Shibata
Hiroshi Mitsuzawa
author_facet Yoshie Sasaki
Ayumi Kojima
Yuriko Shibata
Hiroshi Mitsuzawa
author_sort Yoshie Sasaki
collection DOAJ
description The fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe undergoes a switch from yeast to filamentous invasive growth in response to certain environmental stimuli. Among them is ammonium limitation. Amt1, one of the three ammonium transporters in this yeast, is required for the ammonium limitation-induced morphological transition; however, the underlying molecular mechanism remains to be understood. Cells lacking Amt1 became capable of invasive growth upon increasing concentrations of ammonium in the medium, suggesting that the ammonium taken up into the cell or a metabolic intermediate in ammonium assimilation might serve as a signal for the ammonium limitation-induced morphological transition. To investigate the possible role of ammonium-metabolizing enzymes in the signaling process, deletion mutants were constructed for the gdh1, gdh2, gln1, and glt1 genes, which were demonstrated by enzyme assays to encode NADP-specific glutamate dehydrogenase, NAD-specific glutamate dehydrogenase, glutamine synthetase, and glutamate synthase, respectively. Growth tests on various nitrogen sources revealed that a gln1Δ mutant was a glutamine auxotroph and that a gdh1Δ mutant had a defect in growth on ammonium, particularly at high concentrations. The latter observation indicates that the NADP-specific glutamate dehydrogenase of S. pombe plays a major role in ammonium assimilation under high ammonium concentrations. Invasive growth assays showed that gdh1Δ and glt1Δ mutants underwent invasive growth to a lesser extent than did wild-type strains. Increasing the ammonium concentration in the medium suppressed the invasive growth defect of the glt1Δ mutant, but not the gdh1Δ mutant. These results suggest that the nitrogen status of the cell is important in the induction of filamentous invasive growth in S. pombe.
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spelling doaj.art-2386e793a2ab41ac822533bec1a1a29f2022-12-21T18:19:33ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032017-01-011210e018602810.1371/journal.pone.0186028Filamentous invasive growth of mutants of the genes encoding ammonia-metabolizing enzymes in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe.Yoshie SasakiAyumi KojimaYuriko ShibataHiroshi MitsuzawaThe fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe undergoes a switch from yeast to filamentous invasive growth in response to certain environmental stimuli. Among them is ammonium limitation. Amt1, one of the three ammonium transporters in this yeast, is required for the ammonium limitation-induced morphological transition; however, the underlying molecular mechanism remains to be understood. Cells lacking Amt1 became capable of invasive growth upon increasing concentrations of ammonium in the medium, suggesting that the ammonium taken up into the cell or a metabolic intermediate in ammonium assimilation might serve as a signal for the ammonium limitation-induced morphological transition. To investigate the possible role of ammonium-metabolizing enzymes in the signaling process, deletion mutants were constructed for the gdh1, gdh2, gln1, and glt1 genes, which were demonstrated by enzyme assays to encode NADP-specific glutamate dehydrogenase, NAD-specific glutamate dehydrogenase, glutamine synthetase, and glutamate synthase, respectively. Growth tests on various nitrogen sources revealed that a gln1Δ mutant was a glutamine auxotroph and that a gdh1Δ mutant had a defect in growth on ammonium, particularly at high concentrations. The latter observation indicates that the NADP-specific glutamate dehydrogenase of S. pombe plays a major role in ammonium assimilation under high ammonium concentrations. Invasive growth assays showed that gdh1Δ and glt1Δ mutants underwent invasive growth to a lesser extent than did wild-type strains. Increasing the ammonium concentration in the medium suppressed the invasive growth defect of the glt1Δ mutant, but not the gdh1Δ mutant. These results suggest that the nitrogen status of the cell is important in the induction of filamentous invasive growth in S. pombe.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC5628922?pdf=render
spellingShingle Yoshie Sasaki
Ayumi Kojima
Yuriko Shibata
Hiroshi Mitsuzawa
Filamentous invasive growth of mutants of the genes encoding ammonia-metabolizing enzymes in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe.
PLoS ONE
title Filamentous invasive growth of mutants of the genes encoding ammonia-metabolizing enzymes in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe.
title_full Filamentous invasive growth of mutants of the genes encoding ammonia-metabolizing enzymes in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe.
title_fullStr Filamentous invasive growth of mutants of the genes encoding ammonia-metabolizing enzymes in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe.
title_full_unstemmed Filamentous invasive growth of mutants of the genes encoding ammonia-metabolizing enzymes in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe.
title_short Filamentous invasive growth of mutants of the genes encoding ammonia-metabolizing enzymes in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe.
title_sort filamentous invasive growth of mutants of the genes encoding ammonia metabolizing enzymes in the fission yeast schizosaccharomyces pombe
url http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC5628922?pdf=render
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