Cold adaptation in budding yeast.
We have determined the transcriptional response of the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae to cold. Yeast cells were exposed to 10 degrees C for different lengths of time, and DNA microarrays were used to characterize the changes in transcript abundance. Two distinct groups of transcriptionally modulated genes were identified and defined as the early cold response and the late cold response. A detailed comparison of the cold response with various environmental stress responses revealed a substantial overlap between environmental stress response genes and late cold response genes. In addition, the accumulation of the carbohydrate reserves trehalose and glycogen is induced during late cold response. These observations suggest that the environmental stress response (ESR) occurs during the late cold response. The transcriptional activators Msn2p and Msn4p are involved in the induction of genes common to many stress responses, and we show that they mediate the stress response pattern observed during the late cold response. In contrast, classical markers of the ESR were absent during the early cold response, and the transcriptional response of the early cold response genes was Msn2p/Msn4p independent. This implies that the cold-specific early response is mediated by a different and as yet uncharacterized regulatory mechanism.
Biotechnology Research Institute, National Research Council of Canada, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H4P 2R2. babette.schade@mcgill.ca
Babette
B
Schade
Gregor
G
Jansen
Malcolm
M
Whiteway
Karl D
KD
Entian
David Y
DY
Thomas
D000222:Adaptation, Physiological / Q000235:genetics*; D050260:Carbohydrate Metabolism; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D003080:Cold Temperature; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D015966:Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal; D005800:Genes, Fungal / Q000235:genetics; D012331:RNA, Fungal / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors; D014158:Transcription, Genetic / Q000235:genetics
D012331:RNA, Fungal