title: The competitive advantage of a dual-transporter system.
abstract: Cells use transporters of different affinities to regulate nutrient influx. When nutrients are depleted, low-affinity transporters are replaced by high-affinity ones. High-affinity transporters are helpful when concentrations of nutrients are low, but the advantage of reducing their abundance when nutrients are abundant is less clear. When we eliminated such reduced production of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae high-affinity transporters for phosphate and zinc, the elapsed time from the initiation of the starvation program until the lack of nutrients limited growth was shortened, and recovery from starvation was delayed. The latter phenotype was rescued by constitutive activation of the starvation program. Dual-transporter systems appear to prolong preparation for starvation and to facilitate subsequent recovery, which may optimize sensing of nutrient depletion by integrating internal and external information about nutrient availability.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Genetics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel.
authors.forename: Sagi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Levy
authors.forename: Moshe
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kafri
authors.forename: Miri
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Carmi
authors.forename: Naama
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Barkai
mesh_terms: D027682:Cation Transport Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D003470:Culture Media; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D015966:Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal; D006706:Homeostasis; D010641:Phenotype; D028061:Phosphate Transport Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D010710:Phosphates / Q000378:metabolism; D028081:Proton-Phosphate Symporters / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D015032:Zinc / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D027682:Cation Transport Proteins; D003470:Culture Media; C105495:PHO84 protein, S cerevisiae; C544652:Pho90 protein, S cerevisiae; D028061:Phosphate Transport Proteins; D010710:Phosphates; D028081:Proton-Phosphate Symporters; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins; C098750:ZRT1 protein, S cerevisiae; C101759:ZRT2 protein, S cerevisiae; D015032:Zinc