Andrés Núñez

Activation of the cell integrity pathway is channelled through diverse signalling elements in fission yeast

MAPK Pmk1p is the central element of a cascade involved in the maintenance of cell integrity and other functions in Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Pmk1p becomes activated by multiple stressing situations and also during cell separation. GTPase Rho2p acts upstream of the protein kinase C homolog Pck2p to activate the Pmk1 signalling pathway through direct interaction with MAPKKK Mkh1p. In this work we analyzed the functional significance of both Rho2p and Pck2p in the transduction of various stress signals by the cell integrity pathway. The results indicate that basal Pmk1p activity can be positively regulated by alternative mechanisms which are independent on the control by Rho2p and/or Pck2p. Unexpectedly, Pck1p, another protein kinase C homolog, negatively modulates Pmk1p basal activity by an unknown mechanism. Moreover, different elements appear to regulate the stress-induced activation of Pmk1p depending on the nature of the triggering stimuli. Whereas Pmk1p activation induced by hyper- or hypotonic stresses is channeled through Rho2p-Pck2p, other stressors, like glucose deprivation or cell wall disturbance, are transduced via other pathways in addition to that of Rho2p-Pck2p. On the contrary, Pmk1p activation observed during cell separation or after treatment with hydrogen peroxide does not involve Rho2p-Pck2p. Finally, Pck2p function is critical to maintain a Pmk1p basal activity that allows Pmk1p activation induced by heat stress. These data demonstrate the existence of a complex signalling network modulating Pmk1p activation in response to a variety of stresses in fission yeast.

Role for RACK1 Orthologue Cpc2 in the Modulation of Stress Response in Fission Yeast

The receptor of activated C kinase (RACK1) is a protein highly conserved among eukaryotes. In mammalian cells, RACK1 functions as an adaptor to favor protein kinase C (PKC)-mediated phosphorylation and subsequent activation of c-Jun NH(2)-terminal kinase mitogen-activated protein kinase. Cpc2, the RACK1 orthologue in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe, is involved in the control of G2/M transition and interacts with Pck2, a PKC-type protein member of the cell integrity Pmk1 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway. Both RACK1 and Cpc2 are structural components of the 40S ribosomal subunit, and recent data suggest that they might be involved in the control of translation. In this work, we present data supporting that Cpc2 negatively regulates the cell integrity transduction pathway by favoring translation of the tyrosine-phosphatases Pyp1 and Pyp2 that deactivate Pmk1. In addition, Cpc2 positively regulates the synthesis of the stress-responsive transcription factor Atf1 and the cytoplasmic catalase, a detoxificant enzyme induced by treatment with hydrogen peroxide. These results provide for the first time strong evidence that the RACK1-type Cpc2 protein controls from the ribosome the extent of the activation of MAPK cascades, the cellular defense against oxidative stress, and the progression of the cell cycle by regulating positively the translation of specific gene products involved in key biological processes.

Fission Yeast Receptor of Activated C Kinase (RACK1) Ortholog Cpc2 Regulates Mitotic Commitment through Wee1 Kinase

In the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe, Wee1-dependent inhibitory phosphorylation of the highly conserved Cdc2/Cdk1 kinase determines the mitotic onset when cells have reached a defined size. The receptor of activated C kinase (RACK1) is a scaffolding protein strongly conserved among eukaryotes which binds to other proteins to regulate multiple processes in mammalian cells, including the modulation of cell cycle progression during G1/S transition. We have recently described that Cpc2, the fission yeast ortholog to RACK1, controls from the ribosome the activation of MAPK cascades and the cellular defense against oxidative stress by positively regulating the translation of specific genes whose products participate in the above processes. Intriguingly, mutants lacking Cpc2 display an increased cell size at division, suggesting the existence of a specific cell cycle defect at the G2/M transition. In this work we show that protein levels of Wee1 mitotic inhibitor are increased in cells devoid of Cpc2, whereas the levels of Cdr2, a Wee1 inhibitor, are down-regulated in the above mutant. On the contrary, the kinetics of G1/S transition was virtually identical both in control and Cpc2-less strains. Thus, our results suggest that in fission yeast Cpc2/RACK1 positively regulates from the ribosome the mitotic onset by modulating both the protein levels and the activity of Wee1. This novel mechanism of translational control of cell cycle progression might be conserved in higher eukaryotes.

Monitoring of airborne biological particles in outdoor atmosphere. Part 2: Metagenomics applied to urban environments

The air we breathe contains microscopic biological particles such as viruses, bacteria, fungi and pollen, some of them with relevant clinic importance. These organisms and/or their propagules have been traditionally studied by different disciplines and diverse methodologies like culture and microscopy. These techniques require time, expertise and also have some important biases. As a consequence, our knowledge on the total diversity and the relationships between the different biological entities present in the air is far from being complete. Currently, metagenomics and next-generation sequencing (NGS) may resolve this shortage of information and have been recently applied to metropolitan areas. Although the procedures and methods are not totally standardized yet, the first studies from urban air samples confirm the previous results obtained by culture and microscopy regarding abundance and variation of these biological particles. However, DNA-sequence analyses call into question some preceding ideas and also provide new interesting insights into diversity and their spatial distribution inside the cities. Here, we review the procedures, results and perspectives of the recent works that apply NGS to study the main biological particles present in the air of urban environments. [Int Microbiol 19(2):69-80(2016)].