Abstract

Like all microorganisms, yeast cells spend most of their natural lifetime in a reversible, quiescent state that is primarily induced by limitation for essential nutrients. Substantial progress has been made in defining the features of quiescent cells and the nutrient-signaling pathways that shape these features. A view that emerges from the wealth of new data is that yeast cells dynamically configure the quiescent state in response to nutritional challenges by using a set of key nutrient-signaling pathways, which (1) regulate pathway-specific effectors, (2) converge on a few regulatory nodes that bundle multiple inputs to communicate unified, graded responses, and (3) mutually modulate their competences to transmit signals. Here, I present an overview of our current understanding of the architecture of these pathways, focusing on how the corresponding core signaling protein kinases (i.e. PKA, TORC1, Snf1, and Pho85) are wired to ensure an adequate response to nutrient starvation, which enables cells to tide over decades, if not centuries, of famine.

Highlights

  • Around 1800, a sailing barge carrying a consignment of bottled champagne and beer, possibly sent by France’s King Louis XVI to the Russian Imperial Court, sunk in the Baltic Sea

  • Yeasts spend most of their natural lifetime in a reversible, quiescent/G0 state that is primarily induced by limitation for essential nutrients

  • While some aspects of the quiescence program are clearly nutrient specific (Gasch et al, 2000; Carroll & O’Shea, 2002), it is generally assumed that yeast cells establish a core quiescence program regardless of which nutrient is limiting

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Summary

Introduction

Around 1800, a sailing barge carrying a consignment of bottled champagne and beer, possibly sent by France’s King Louis XVI to the Russian Imperial Court, sunk in the Baltic Sea.

Results
Conclusion

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