Systematic expression analysis discloses quiescent signaling integration for Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Abstract

Saccharomyces cerevisiae can respond to many stresses after facing one type of stress. It is believed that it enters into a common status, quiescence. There are four key signaling pathways involved in the process according to current research. The central proteins or protein complexes of these signaling pathways include Torc1, Snf1, Pka, and Pho85. These signaling pathways are not independent of each other. Instead, they can antagonize against each other. However, it is still unknown how they cooperate to regulate other pathways. Two possible levels could control the responsive process, i.e., proteome and transcriptome. Expression regulation of these signaling molecules is important to build Saccharomyces cerevisiae’s status.

In order to understand how Saccharomyces cerevisiae changes the expression of functionally interweaved signaling proteins to reprogram a collection of basic biological processes, we systematically analyze the expression correlations between those signaling proteins and other basic biological processes. Analysis shows that Tor1, Sip2, TPK1 and TPK2 are highly consistent with these biological processes. In particular, the subunits of these signaling complexes play different roles in response to environmental stresses. The interaction analysis shows that Tor1 and Tpk2 have strong interaction for autophase, which has been found in recent studies. We also found another interaction between Tor1 and Sip2, which could participate in RNA biogenesis together or be co-regulated by the signal from it.