title: A glucose-starvation response regulates the diffusion of macromolecules.
abstract: The organization and biophysical properties of the cytosol implicitly govern molecular interactions within cells. However, little is known about mechanisms by which cells regulate cytosolic properties and intracellular diffusion rates. Here, we demonstrate that the intracellular environment of budding yeast undertakes a startling transition upon glucose starvation in which macromolecular mobility is dramatically restricted, reducing the movement of both chromatin in the nucleus and mRNPs in the cytoplasm. This confinement cannot be explained by an ATP decrease or the physiological drop in intracellular pH. Rather, our results suggest that the regulation of diffusional mobility is induced by a reduction in cell volume and subsequent increase in molecular crowding which severely alters the biophysical properties of the intracellular environment. A similar response can be observed in fission yeast and bacteria. This reveals a novel mechanism by which cells globally alter their properties to establish a unique homeostasis during starvation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, United States.
authors.forename: Ryan P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Joyner
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biochemistry, Department of Biology, ETH Zurich, Zürich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Jeffrey H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering, ETH Zurich, Zürich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Jonne
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Helenius
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, United States.
authors.forename: Elisa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Dultz
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, United States.
authors.forename: Christiane
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Brune
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, United States.
authors.forename: Liam J
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-4002-0861
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Holt
authors.affiliation: CNRS, UMR 6290, Institut Génétique et Développement, University of Rennes, Rennes, France.
authors.forename: Sebastien
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Huet
authors.affiliation: Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering, ETH Zurich, Zürich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Daniel J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, United States.|Institute of Biochemistry, Department of Biology, ETH Zurich, Zürich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Karsten
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-7224-925X
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Weis
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000378:metabolism; D018407:Bacterial Physiological Phenomena; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000737:chemistry*; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000737:chemistry*; D004058:Diffusion; D005947:Glucose / Q000378:metabolism*; D046911:Macromolecular Substances / Q000737:chemistry*; D004718:Saccharomycetales / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D012568:Schizosaccharomyces / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D005947:Glucose
keywords: 
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            ; biochemistry; cell biology; crowding; diffusion; starvation