Control of Transcription by Cell Size

Cell size increases significantly with increasing ploidy. Differences in cell size and ploidy are associated with alterations in gene expression, although no direct connection has been made between cell size and transcription. Here we show that ploidy-associated changes in gene expression reflect transcriptional adjustment to a larger cell size, implicating cellular geometry as a key parameter in gene regulation. Using RNA-seq, we identified genes whose expression was altered in a tetraploid as compared with the isogenic haploid. A significant fraction of these genes encode cell surface proteins, suggesting an effect of the enlarged cell size on the differential regulation of these genes. To test this hypothesis, we examined expression of these genes in haploid mutants that also produce enlarged size. Surprisingly, many genes differentially regulated in the tetraploid are identically regulated in the enlarged haploids, and the magnitude of change in gene expression correlates with the degree of size enlargement. These results indicate a causal relationship between cell size and transcription, with a size-sensing mechanism that alters transcription in response to size. The genes responding to cell size are enriched for those regulated by two mitogen-activated protein kinase pathways, and components in those pathways were found to mediate size-dependent gene regulation. Transcriptional adjustment to enlarged cell size could underlie other cellular changes associated with polyploidy. The causal relationship between cell size and transcription suggests that cell size homeostasis serves a regulatory role in transcriptome maintenance.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (grant GM035010)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (grant GM040266

Cryptococcal Cell Morphology Affects Host Cell Interactions and Pathogenicity

Cryptococcus neoformans is a common life-threatening human fungal pathogen. The size of cryptococcal cells is typically 5 to 10 µm. Cell enlargement was observed in vivo, producing cells up to 100 µm. These morphological changes in cell size affected pathogenicity via reducing phagocytosis by host mononuclear cells, increasing resistance to oxidative and nitrosative stress, and correlated with reduced penetration of the central nervous system. Cell enlargement was stimulated by coinfection with strains of opposite mating type, and ste3aΔ pheromone receptor mutant strains had reduced cell enlargement. Finally, analysis of DNA content in this novel cell type revealed that these enlarged cells were polyploid, uninucleate, and produced daughter cells in vivo. These results describe a novel mechanism by which C. neoformans evades host phagocytosis to allow survival of a subset of the population at early stages of infection. Thus, morphological changes play unique and specialized roles during infection

High Osmolarity Extends Life Span in Saccharomyces cerevisiae by a Mechanism Related to Calorie Restriction

Calorie restriction (CR) extends life span in many different organisms, including mammals. We describe here a novel pathway that extends the life span of Saccharomyces cerevisiae mother cells but does not involve a reduction in caloric content of the media, i.e., there is growth of yeast cells in the presence of a high concentration of external osmolytes. Like CR, this longevity-promoting response to high osmolarity requires SIR2, suggesting a common mechanism of life span regulation. Genetic and microarray analysis indicates that high osmolarity extends the life span by activating Hog1p, leading to an increase in the biosynthesis of glycerol from glycolytic intermediates. This metabolic shift likely increases NAD levels, thereby activating Sir2p and promoting longevity

Copyright © 2004 by the Genetics Society of America Saccharomyces cerevisiae SSD1-V Confers Longevity by a Sir2p-Independent Mechanism

The SSD1 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a polymorphic locus that affects diverse cellular processes including cell integrity, cell cycle progression, and growth at high temperature. We show here that the SSD1-V allele is necessary for cells to achieve extremely long life span. Furthermore, addition of SSD1-V to cells can increase longevity independently of SIR2, although SIR2 is necessary for SSD1-V cells to attain maximal life span. Past studies of yeast aging have been performed in short-lived ssd1-d strain backgrounds. We propose that SSD1-V defines a previously undescribed pathway affecting cellular longevity and suggest that future studies on longevity-promoting genes should be carried out in long-lived SSD1-V strains. AGING in Saccharomyces cerevisiae can be studied by rhabditis elegans, suggesting that Sir2 proteins regulate mutations that extend the replicative life span of aging in higher eukaryotes as well (Tissenbaum and mother cells, defined as the number of daughters pro- Guarente 2001). duced by a given mother cell prior to senescence. One SSD1 is a polymorphic locus that affects diverse cellucause of aging in yeast is the accumulation of extrachro- lar processes. Two allele classes, designated SSD1-V and mosomal ribosomal DNA circles (ERCs), circular DNA ssd1-d, have been identified for SSD1. SSD1-V alleles conmolecules derived from homologous recombination fer viability in the absence of the Sit4 protein phosphawithi

Genomic Plasticity of the Human Fungal Pathogen Candida albicans▿

The genomic plasticity of Candida albicans, a commensal and common opportunistic fungal pathogen, continues to reveal unexpected surprises. Once thought to be asexual, we now know that the organism can generate genetic diversity through several mechanisms, including mating between cells of the opposite or of the same mating type and by a parasexual reduction in chromosome number that can be accompanied by recombination events (2, 12, 14, 53, 77, 115). In addition, dramatic genome changes can appear quite rapidly in mitotic cells propagated in vitro as well as in vivo. The detection of aneuploidy in other fungal pathogens isolated directly from patients (145) and from environmental samples (71) suggests that variations in chromosome organization and copy number are a common mechanism used by pathogenic fungi to rapidly generate diversity in response to stressful growth conditions, including, but not limited to, antifungal drug exposure. Since cancer cells often become polyploid and/or aneuploid, some of the lessons learned from studies of genome plasticity in C. albicans may provide important insights into how these processes occur in higher-eukaryotic cells exposed to stresses such as anticancer drugs