Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 1997 Dec 1;16(23):7008-18.
doi: 10.1093/emboj/16.23.7008.

Yeast pseudohyphal growth is regulated by GPA2, a G protein alpha homolog

M C Lorenz  1 , J Heitman
Affiliations

Yeast pseudohyphal growth is regulated by GPA2, a G protein alpha homolog

M C Lorenz et al. EMBO J. .

Abstract

Pseudohyphal differentiation, a filamentous growth form of the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, is induced by nitrogen starvation. The mechanisms by which nitrogen limitation regulates this process are currently unknown. We have found that GPA2, one of the two heterotrimeric G protein alpha subunit homologs in yeast, regulates pseudohyphal differentiation. Deltagpa2/Deltagpa2 mutant strains have a defect in pseudohyphal growth. In contrast, a constitutively active allele of GPA2 stimulates filamentation, even on nitrogen-rich media. Moreover, a dominant negative GPA2 allele inhibits filamentation of wild-type strains. Several findings, including epistasis analysis and reporter gene studies, indicate that GPA2 does not regulate the MAP kinase cascade known to regulate filamentous growth. Previous studies have implicated GPA2 in the control of intracellular cAMP levels; we find that expression of the dominant RAS2(Gly19Val) mutant or exogenous cAMP suppresses the Deltagpa2 pseudohyphal defect. cAMP also stimulates filamentation in strains lacking the cAMP phosphodiesterase PDE2, even in the absence of nitrogen starvation. Our findings suggest that GPA2 is an element of the nitrogen sensing machinery that regulates pseudohyphal differentiation by modulating cAMP levels.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Mol Cell Biol. 1988 May;8(5):2159-65 - PubMed
    1. J Biol Chem. 1997 Aug 15;272(33):20321-3 - PubMed
    1. Cell. 1989 Feb 10;56(3):467-77 - PubMed
    1. Gene. 1988 Dec 30;74(2):527-34 - PubMed
    1. Gene. 1989 Apr 15;77(1):51-9 - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms