Maria José Neves

The growth and signalling defects of the ggs1 (fdp1/byp1) deletion mutant on glucose are suppressed by a deletion of the gene encoding hexokinase PII

Yeast cells defective in the GGS1 (FDP1/BYP1) gene are unable to adapt to fermentative metabolism. When glucose is added to derepressed ggs1 cells, growth is arrested due to an overloading of glycolysis with sugar phosphates which eventually leads to a depletion of phosphate in the cytosol. Ggs1 mutants lack all glucose-induced regulatory effects investigated so far. We reduced hexokinase activity in ggs1 strains by deleting the gene HXK2 encoding hexokinase PII. The double mutant ggs1Δ, hxk2Δ grew on glucose. This is in agreement with the idea that an inability of the ggs1 mutants to regulate the initiation of glycolysis causes the growth deficiency. However, the ggs1Δ, hxk2Δ double mutant still displayed a high level of glucose-6-phosphate as well as the rapid appearance of free intracellular glucose. This is consistent with our previous model suggesting an involvement of GGS1 in transport-associated sugar phosphorylation. Glucose induction of pyruvate decarboxylase, glucoseinduced cAMP-signalling, glucose-induced inactivation of fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase, and glucose-induced activation of the potassium transport system, all deficient in ggs1 mutants, were restored by the delection of HXK2. However, both the ggs1Δ and the ggs1Δ, hk2Δ mutant lack detectable trehalose and trehalose-6-phosphate synthase activity. Trehalose is undetectable even in ggs1Δ strains with strongly reduced activity of protein kinase A which normally causes a very high trehalose content. These data fit with the recent cloning of GGS1 as a subunit of the trehalose-6-phosphate synthase/phosphatase complex. We discuss a possible requirement of trehalose synthesis for a metabolic balance of sugar phosphates and free inorganic phosphate during the transition from derepressed to fermentative metabolism.

Molecular cloning of a gene involved in glucose sensing in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Cells of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae display a wide range of glucose‐induced regulatory phenomena, including glucose‐induced activation of the RAS‐adenylate cyclase pathway and phosphatidylinositol turnover, rapid post‐translational effects on the activity of different enzymes as well as long‐term effects at the transcriptional level. A gene called GGS1 (for General Glucose Sensor) that is apparently required for the glucose‐induced regulatory effects and several ggs1 alleles (fdp1, byp1 and cif1) has been cloned and characterized. A GGS1 homologue is present in Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum. Yeast ggs1 mutants are unable to grow on glucose or related readily fermentable sugars, apparently owing to unrestricted influx of sugar into glycolysis, resulting in its rapid deregulation. Levels of intracellular free glucose and metabolites measured over a period of a few minutes after addition of glucose to cells of a ggsi1Δ strain are consistent with our previous suggestion of a functional interaction between a sugar transporter, a sugar kinase and the GGS1 gene product. Such a glucose‐sensing system might both restrict the influx of glucose and activate several signal transduction pathways, leading to the wide range of glucose‐induced regulatory phenomena. Deregulation of these pathways in ggs1 mutants might explain phenotypic defects observed in the absence of glucose, e.g. the inability of ggs1 diploids to sporulate.

Evidence for trehalose‐6‐phosphate‐dependent and ‐independent mechanisms in the control of sugar influx into yeast glycolysis

In the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisíae, trehalose‐6‐phosphate (tre‐6‐P) synthase encoded by GGS1/TPS1, is not only involved in the production of trehalose but also in restriction of sugar influx into glycolysis in an unknown fashion; it is therefore essential for growth on glucose or fructose. In this work, we have deleted the TPS2 gene encoding tre‐6‐P phosphatase in a strain which displays very low levels of Ggs1/Tps1, as a result of the presence of the byp1‐3 allele of GGS1/TPS1. The byp1‐3 tps2Δ double mutant showed elevated tre‐6‐P levels along with improved growth and ethanol production, although the estimated concentrations of glycolytic metabolites indicated excessive sugar influx. In the wild‐type strain, the addition of glucose caused a rapid transient increase of tre‐6‐P. In tps2Δ mutant cells, which showed a high tre‐6‐P level before glucose addition, sugar influx into glycolysis appeared to be diminished. Furthermore, we have confirmed that tre‐6‐P inhibits the hexokinases in vitro. These data are consistent with restriction of sugar influx into glycolysis through inhibition of the hexokinases by tre‐6‐P during the switch to fermentative metabolism. During logarithmic growth on glucose the tre‐6‐P level in wild‐type cells was lower than that of the byp1‐3 tps2Δ. mutant. However, the latter strain arrested growth and ethanol production on glucose after about four generations. Hence, other mechanisms, which also depend on Ggs1/Tps1, appear to control sugar influx during growth on glucose. In addition, we provide evidence that the requirement for Ggs1/Tps1 for sporulation may be unrelated to its involvement in trehalose metabolism or in the system controlling glycolysis.

Control of glucose influx into glycolysis and pleiotropic effects studied in different isogenic sets of Saccharomyces cerevisiae mutants in trehalose biosynthesis.

The GGS1/TPS1 gene of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae encodes the trehalose-6-phosphate synthase subunit of the trehalose synthase complex. Mutants defective in GGS1/TPS1 have been isolated repeatedly and they showed variable pleiotropic phenotypes, in particular with respect to trehalose content, ability to grow on fermentable sugars, glucose-induced signaling and sporulation capacity. We have introduced the fdp1, cif1, byp1 and glc6 alleles and the ggs1/tps1 deletion into three different wild-type strains, M5, SP1 and W303-1A. This set of strains will aid further studies on the molecular basis of the complex pleiotropic phenotypes of ggs1/tps1 mutants. The phenotypes conferred by specific alleles were clearly dependent on the genetic background and also differed for some of the alleles. Our results show that the lethality caused by single gene deletion in one genetic background can become undetectable in another background. The sporulation defect of ggs1/tps1 diploids was neither due to a deficiency in G1 arrest, nor to the inability to accumulate trehalose. Ggs1/tps1 Δ mutants were very sensitive to glucose and fructose, even in the presence of a 100-fold higher galactose concentration. Fifty-percent inhibition occurred at concentrations similar to the Km values of glucose and fructose transport. The inhibitory effect of glucose in the presence of a large excess of galactose argues against an overactive glycolytic flux as the cause of the growth defect. Deletion of genes of the glucose carrier family shifted the 50% growth inhibition to higher sugar concentrations. This finding allows for a novel approach to estimate the relevance of the many putative glucose carrier genes in S. cerevisiae. We also show that the GGS1/TPS1 gene product is not only required for the transition from respirative to fermentative metabolism but continuously during logarithmic growth on glucose, in spite of the absence of trehalose under such conditions.

Stress Tolerance of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae Adenylate Cyclase fil1 (CYR1lys1682) Mutant Depends on Hsp26

Fermentation-induced loss of stress resistance in yeast is an important phenotype from an industrial point of view. It hampers optimal use of frozen dough applications as well as high gravity brewing fermentations because these applications require stress-tolerant yeast strains during active fermentation. Different mutants (e.g. fil1, an adenylate cyclase mutant CYR1lys1682) that are affected in this loss of stress resistance have been isolated, but so far the identification of the target genes important for the increased tolerance has failed. Previously we have shown that neither trehalose nor Hsp104 nor STRE-controlled genes are involved in the higher stress tolerance of the fil1 mutant. The contribution of other putative downstream factors of the PKA pathway was investigated and here we show that the small heat-shock protein Hsp26 is required for the high heat stress tolerance of the fil1 mutant, both in stationary phase cells as well as during active fermentation.