Global Protein Synthesis and Hypoxia Responses in Yeast

Abstract

Oxygen is critical for the survival and development of many living organisms, particularly eukaryotes. Living organisms ranging from yeast to humans have developed sophisticated mechanisms to respond to the changes of oxygen level in the environment. We used the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a model system to study mechanisms of oxygen sensing and regulation. To identify potential global regulators mediating oxygen regulation and hypoxia responses, we initiated a genome‐wide screen for deletion mutants that enable cells to grow better under hypoxia. By visual screening, we initially identified 104 yeast deletion mutants that grew significantly better under hypoxia, compared to the wild type parent from a library of 4786 yeast deletion strains. Further quantitative measurements showed that six deletion mutants of genes encoding functions involved in ribosome biogenesis exhibit the highest growth enhancement under hypoxia. Experiments are underway to investigate the molecular mechanisms by which ribosome biogenesis and global protein synthesis promote cell growth under hypoxia. GM062246