A logical circuit for the regulation of fission yeast growth modes

Abstract

Growth of fission yeast at the ends of its cylindrical cells switches from a monopolar to a bipolar mode, before it ceases during mitosis and cell division. Here we assume that these growth modes correspond to three stable states of an underlying regulatory circuit, which is a relatively simple and to a large degree autonomous subsystem of an otherwise complex cellular control system. We develop a switch-like logical circuit based on three elements defined as binary variables. Effects of circuit variables on each other are expressed in terms of logical operations. We analyse this circuit for its behavior (“phenotypes”) after removing single or multiple operations (“mutants”). Known fission yeast polarity mutants such as those defective in the switch to bipolar growth can be classified based on these predicted ‘phenotypes’. Differences in growth patterns between daughter cells in different bipolar growth mutants are also predicted by the circuit model. The model presented here should provide a useful framework to guide future experiments into mechanisms of cellular polarity. This paper illustrates the usefulness of simple logical circuits to describe and dissect features of complex regulatory processes such as the fission yeast growth patterns in both wild type and mutant cells.