Schizosaccharomyces pombe taf1 ⁺ is required for nitrogen starvation-induced sexual development and for entering the dormant G0 state

Abstract

Environmental change, such as nutritional starvation, induces physiological and morphological alterations that enable fission yeast cells to survive. We isolated a novel gene, taf1 ⁺, required for the response to nitrogen starvation in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. taf1 disruptants could not mate upon nitrogen starvation, but could upon carbon starvation. taf1 disruptants had a defect in inducing ste11 ⁺ expression under nitrogen starvation conditions. Furthermore, they lost viability quickly in nitrogen-depleted medium. Unlike wild-type cells, starved taf1 ⁻ cells had nuclear chromatin that were flat and adhered to the cell periphery. These results indicate that taf1 ⁺ is required for nitrogen starvation-induced sexual development and entering the dormant G0 state.