title: Scaffold number in yeast signaling system sets tradeoff between system output and dynamic range.
abstract: Although the proteins comprising many signaling systems are known, less is known about their numbers per cell. Existing measurements often vary by more than 10-fold. Here, we devised improved quantification methods to measure protein abundances in the Saccharomyces cerevisiae pheromone response pathway, an archetypical signaling system. These methods limited variation between independent measurements of protein abundance to a factor of two. We used these measurements together with quantitative models to identify and investigate behaviors of the pheromone response system sensitive to precise abundances. The difference between the maximum and basal signaling output (dynamic range) of the pheromone response MAPK cascade was strongly sensitive to the abundance of Ste5, the MAPK scaffold protein, and absolute system output depended on the amount of Fus3, the MAPK. Additional analysis and experiment suggest that scaffold abundance sets a tradeoff between maximum system output and system dynamic range, a prediction supported by recent experiments.
authors: Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
authors: Ty M
authors: TM
authors: Thomson
authors: Kirsten R
authors: KR
authors: Benjamin
authors: Alan
authors: A
authors: Bush
authors: Tonya
authors: T
authors: Love
authors: David
authors: D
authors: Pincus
authors: Orna
authors: O
authors: Resnekov
authors: Richard C
authors: RC
authors: Yu
authors: Andrew
authors: A
authors: Gordon
authors: Alejandro
authors: A
authors: Colman-Lerner
authors: Drew
authors: D
authors: Endy
authors: Roger
authors: R
authors: Brent
mesh_terms: D005453:Fluorescence; D015151:Immunoblotting; D020935:MAP Kinase Signaling System; D008954:Models, Biological; D010675:Pheromones / Q000378:metabolism; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000378:metabolism*; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction; D049490:Systems Biology
chemical_list: D010675:Pheromones; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins