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J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 278, Issue 36, 33887-33895, September 5, 2003
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From the
Research Unit, Hospital Universitario de
Canarias, Ofra s/n-La Cuesta, 38320-La Laguna and the
||Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas
(CSIC), C/Arturo Duperier 4, 28029-Madrid, Spain
Received for publication, May 19, 2003 , and in revised form, June 13, 2003.
| ABSTRACT |
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| INTRODUCTION |
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High osmolarity in yeast triggers the HOG mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase pathway, leading to increased transcription of stress-responsive genes and to intracellular accumulation of glycerol (6, 7). Changes in external osmolarity are sensed by two transmembrane proteins acting independently and converging at the level of the MAP kinase kinase Pbs2p, which controls dual phosphorylation and activation of Hog1p (8). Active Hog1p translocates to the nucleus and regulates part of the osmotic gene expression by direct phosphorylation of transcriptional activators like Hot1p (9) and repressors like Sko1p (10, 11). Sko1p binds to CRE-like sequences found in the promoters of several genes involved in adaptation to high osmolarity such as the ENA1 gene, encoding an Na+-ATPase (10). Additionally, nuclear Hog1p associates with the transcriptional machinery and modulates promoter binding of these transcription factors (12, 13). Hog1p also regulates its own intracellular distribution by induction of its nuclear export mediated by its kinase activity (14). Other responses to osmotic stress include inhibition of nutrient uptake, protein synthesis, and the expression of genes encoding ribosomal proteins in yeast (6, 15). Although it remains unclear how osmotic stress transiently down-regulates protein synthesis, recent evidence suggests that it might be mediated by the Hog1p MAP kinase pathway itself (16, 17).
FK506 inhibits amino acid uptake in yeast and induces translation of the
transcriptional activator Gcn4p
(18). GCN4
translation is controlled by a regulatory pathway activated by amino acid or
purine starvation and called the general control pathway (GCN)
(19). In response to nutrient
deprivation, S. cerevisiae induces phosphorylation of the
subunit of eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2 (eIF-2) at serine 51 by
the Gcn2p protein kinase (19).
Translational regulation of GCN4 is mediated by four short open
reading frames located in the 5'-untranslated region of GCN4
(uORFs). In cells without nutrient limitation, the uORFs block GCN4
translation efficiently (19,
20). Upon amino acid or purine
deprivation, Gcn2p-dependent phosphorylation of eIF-2
leads to reduced
active eIF-2 levels, thus allowing increased GCN4 translation because
of bypassing the uORFs. High levels of Gcn4p stimulate expression of genes
involved in amino acid biosynthesis
(21).
We report here that FK506 increased the sensitivity of yeast cells to osmotic stress by inducing amino acid starvation and strong activation of the GCN pathway. We found that activation of the GCN pathway regulated the activity of the Hog1 MAP kinase pathway by distinct mechanisms. At least one of these mechanisms involved a positive regulatory loop between the Gcn2p and Hog1p protein kinases that has not been described previously. These results also suggest that transient inhibition of protein synthesis by osmotic stress might be regulated by Hog1p and Gcn2p at the initiation step. Given the conserved nature of the Gcn2p and Hog1p pathways, these FK506-dependent events could be of significance to the secondary effects of FK506 treatment.
| EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES |
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The URS CREENA1-CYC1-LacZ pMP224 reporter plasmid has been described previously (10). The plasmid p180, expressing a GCN4-LacZ fusion including the entire GCN4 5'-non-coding region with four upstream open reading frames inserted into YCp50, a low copy-number plasmid marked with URA3, has also been described (28). The HIS4-LacZ p377 reporter plasmid has been described previously (29).
-Galactosidase AssaysYeast cells transformed with the
appropriate reporter plasmids were grown selectively in S.D. medium and then
diluted in YPD. Exponential cultures were treated with FK506 and/or sorbitol
as indicated.
-Galactosidase activity was determined at the indicated
times as described elsewhere
(30) and represented as
-ga-lactosidase activity units. Data are the mean ± S.E. from
three independent transformants, each one measured in duplicate.
Yeast Growth AssaysStandard methods for yeast culture and manipulations were used (31). Synthetic medium (S.D.) contained 2% glucose, 0.67% yeast nitrogen base without amino acids (Difco), and the amino acids, purine, and pyrimidine bases required by the strains of interest. YPD medium contained 2% glucose, 2% peptone, and 1% yeast extract. FK506 was kindly provided by Fujisawa Inc., dissolved in ethanol, and diluted in YPD at the corresponding doses.
For analysis of cell growth by drop test, logarithmically growing cells in liquid YPD medium were 10-fold serially diluted, and volumes of around 3 µl were dropped with a stainless steel replicator (Sigma) on solid plates containing 2% Bacto-Agar (Difco) and YPD medium with the corresponding doses of FK506 and/or sorbitol (Sigma) as indicated. Growth was recorded after 25 days in all cases.
For viability assays, exponentially growing cultures in liquid YPD were collected by centrifugation, and an equal number of cells were plated onto YPD plates containing the corresponding doses of FK506 and/or sorbitol. Colonies were quantitated after 25 days in all cases. Data represented are the mean ± S.E. of at least two independent experiments, each one done in duplicate.
The ability of yeast cells to grow in various liquid conditions was tested by adding equal amounts of cells from overnight cultures in YPD to 3 ml of YPD supplemented with the corresponding doses of FK506 and/or sorbitol. OD660 was measured at the indicated time points. Growth inhibition (%) for a given strain in FK506-containing medium was expressed as the ratio of the OD660 obtained for this strain to the OD660 of the control culture.
ImmunoblottingStrains were grown in liquid YPD medium to
midlog phase and then treated with the corresponding doses of FK506 and/or
sorbitol at the indicated times. After treatment, equal numbers of cells were
collected by centrifugation and resuspended in 20% trichloroacetic acid. Cells
were lysed by glass-beads vortexing. Insoluble protein extracts were pelleted
by centrifugation and resuspended in alkaline Laemmli buffer. 20 µg of
total cellular protein was subjected to SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis
and transferred to nitrocellulose (Protran®, Schleicher & Schüll)
filters. Uniform gel loading was confirmed by Ponceau S staining of membranes
after transfer. Phosphorylated Hog1p was detected with an antiphospho-p38
antibody (Thr180-Tyr182) from New England Biolabs (NEB).
Phosphorylated eIF-2
was detected with an antiphospho-eIF-2
antibody (Ser51) from New England Biolabs. Immunocomplexes were
visualized by enhanced chemiluminescence detection (Pierce) using a
HRP-conjugated goat anti-rabbit IgG (Bio-Rad). The figures show an experiment
representative of at least two independent ones with essentially identical
results.
| RESULTS |
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Tryptophan Prototrophy or Excess Tryptophan Overcomes FK506-induced Osmotic Stress Sensitivity in YeastFK506 impairs S. cerevisiae cell growth by inhibition of tryptophan, histidine, and leucine import in yeast strains auxotrophic for these amino acids (18, 34). Accordingly, prototrophy for one of these amino acids or an excess of tryptophan or histidine added exogenously to the growth medium rescued the growth defect (34). We assessed whether amino acid prototrophy was also able to modulate the FK506 osmotic phenotype in a set of WT strains prototrophic for histidine, leucine, tryptophan, or uracil by testing the growth of these strains in sorbitol-containing medium with FK506. As shown in Fig. 2A, only the WT-TRP1 strain was able to grow in the presence of FK506. Consistent with this, excess tryptophan in the growth medium also relieved FK506 osmotic sensitivity in the WT and the cnb1 mutant (Fig. 2B). Therefore, these results confirm that tryptophan availability alleviates the FK506 sensitivity to osmotic stress in a calcineurin-independent manner.
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FK506-induced Tryptophan Deprivation Activates the General Control
PathwayFK506 blocks amino acid import, generating starvation of
amino acids, and stimulates GCN4 translation
(18,
34). To determine whether
GCN4 translation was dependent on general control pathway activation,
we tested the effect of FK506 on the p180 GCN4-lacZ reporter in the
WT and gcn1, -2, -3, and -4 yeast
strains. The p180 reporter contains the entire GCN4
5'-untranslated region driving expression of the LacZ gene.
GCN1 together with GCN20 encode adaptor proteins, which bind
to ribosomes and interact with GCN2 kinase mediating its activation
by uncharged tRNAs (35,
36). GCN3 encodes the
subunit of eIF-2B, a multisubunit guanine nucleotide exchange factor
that regulates levels of GTP-bound eIF-2
. Phosphorylated eIF-2
binds to Gcn3p and blocks eIF-2B exchange function favoring selective
translational induction of GCN4
(3739).
When expression from the GCN4-LacZ reporter was measured 3 h after
FK506 addition, 3-fold induction was seen in the WT strain but was
absent in all of the gcn mutants tested
(Fig. 3A). We also
tested a HIS4-LacZ reporter containing the HIS4 promoter
driving the LacZ gene in the WT and gcn1,
-2, and -3 strains. Expression of HIS4-LacZ
increases after amino acid starvation in a Gcn4p-dependent manner
(40). As expected, following
FK506 addition there was a 4-fold increase in HIS4-LacZ expression
after 3 h in the WT strain, which was abolished in the gcn
mutants (Fig. 3B).
Interestingly, tryptophan prototrophy or addition of excess tryptophan also
abolished GCN4-LacZ induction by FK506
(Fig. 3C). Therefore,
these data show that FK506 induces GCN4 control by activating the
GCN pathway. Furthermore, these findings confirm that starvation for
tryptophan is the most relevant event triggering GCN4 expression in
response to FK506.
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Disruption of the GCN Pathway Alleviates FK506-induced Osmotic SensitivityRecently, a functional connection between the GCN pathway and tolerance to salt stress has been described (25). Disruption of the GCN pathway increased tolerance to NaCl suggesting that (over)activation of this pathway had toxic effects on cell growth under salt stress. If the same was true for FK506, then its toxicity should be modulated by inactivation of the GCN pathway. To test this possibility, we analyzed the growth of the gcn1, -2, -3, and -4 mutants in the presence of sorbitol and/or FK506. Deletion of GCN1 and -2 did not affect FK506 sensitivity to high osmolarity. Remarkably, FK506-induced sensitivity to osmotic stress was substantially reduced in the gcn3 and -4 mutants (Fig. 4A). We further characterized the gcn3 and -4 suppression of FK506 osmotic sensitivity by measuring the growth of the WT and the gcn1, -2, -3, and -4 mutants under osmotic stress in the presence or absence of FK506. As a control we used the WT-TRP1 strain, which is resistant to FK506 toxicity. Unexpectedly, FK506 inhibited cell growth to the same extent in all the strains tested (Fig. 4B), suggesting that resistance to FK506 toxicity in the gnc3 and -4 mutants was due to increased cell viability rather than improved cell growth under stress conditions. To test this hypothesis we measured the ability of each mutant to form viable colonies in sorbitol-containing plates with or without FK506. As shown in Fig. 4C, the colony-forming ability of the WT-TRP1 strain remained unaffected in the presence or absence of FK506. The number of viable colonies in FK506-containing medium was substantially higher in the gcn3 and -4 mutants than in the WT-trp1, gcn1, and gcn2 mutants as expected. Interestingly, deletion of GCN3 and -4 did not fully rescue FK506 toxicity as tryptophan prototrophy did in the WT strain. Therefore, inactivation of the GCN pathway only partially suppressed FK506 toxicity, and tryptophan starvation also contributed to FK506 osmotic sensitivity. Overall, these findings indicate that FK506 activation of the GCN pathway somehow modulates cell sensitivity to osmotic stress.
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FK506 Enhances Hog1p Phosphorylation by Osmotic Stress via Gcn2pOsmotic stress leads to activation of the HOG MAP kinase pathway through dual phosphorylation of the Thr-174 and Tyr-176 residues of the Hog1p MAP kinase by its dual specificity kinase Pbs2p. These phosphorylation events are necessary and sufficient to allow nuclear translocation of Hog1p, leading to induction of expression of target genes (14) and tolerance to osmotic stress. Phosphorylation of Hog1p can be monitored by Western blot analysis using a commercially available antibody specifically recognizing the phosphorylated forms of the p38-type kinase Hog1p Tyr-176 and Thr-174 residues. We explored whether the HOG pathway was involved in the resistance to FK506 toxicity observed in some GCN pathway mutants. WT and gcn1, -2, -3, and -4 cells were preincubated or not with FK506 for 1 h, osmostressed for 45 min, and harvested for total protein extraction. Western blot analysis of the Hog1p phosphorylation status revealed an unexpected result. FK506 strongly augmented Hog1p phosphorylation by osmotic stress in the WT and the gcn1, -3, and -4 mutants (Fig. 5). Surprisingly, hyperphosphorylation of Hog1p was fully abolished in the gcn2 mutant, suggesting that Gcn2p mediated this effect. To further confirm this result we tested the effect of FK506 on the pMP224 reporter, containing a CRE-like sequence driving expression of the LacZ gene (see "Experimental Procedures"). This sequence is the binding site for the transcriptional repressor Sko1p, known to be a direct substrate of the Hog1p MAP kinase (11). Hog1p phosphorylation inactivates Sko1p repressor function, leading to transcriptional derepression of some HOG pathway-dependent genes (10, 11). Expression of this reporter was measured in the different mutants used previously for the Hog1p phosphorylation study. As shown in Fig. 6, osmotic stress induction of the pMP224 reporter was blocked by FK506 in the WT and the gcn1,-3, and -4 mutants, despite the fact that Hog1p was hyperphosphorylated under these conditions. Interestingly, sorbitol induction of the reporter was unaffected by FK506 in the gcn2 mutant, further reinforcing the hypothesis that Gcn2p was mediating FK506 effects. The absence of reporter expression in the WT and gcn1, -3, and -4 mutants was not due to a transient delay in transcriptional activation as we obtained the same results up to 3 h later (data not shown). Therefore, these data demonstrate that FK506 augmented Hog1p phosphorylation and perturbed Hog1p-dependent transcriptional induction via Gcn2p, revealing a functional link between Hog1p and Gcn2p kinases. In addition these results suggest that suppression of FK506 toxicity by deletion of GCN3 and -4 genes was mediated by other unrelated mechanisms.
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gcn2 Mutant Sensitivity to FK506 Is due to Amino Acid Starvation and Not to Gcn4p-dependent Gene ExpressionDeletion of GCN2 reduced Hog1p phosphorylation and restored Hog1p-dependent gene expression in the presence of FK506, but it did not relieve FK506 toxicity (Fig. 4). Therefore, other mechanisms were also contributing to FK506 sensitivity of the gcn2 strain. It has been described that GCN4 activation is harmful to cells under salt stress (25), probably because of enhancement of the expression of GCN4-regulated genes, which might create some metabolic problems under stress conditions. In addition, there are several instances in which GCN4 translation can be stimulated in a Gcn2p-independent manner (41, 42). We reasoned then that the FK506 toxicity observed in the gcn2 mutant could be explained by increased GCN4 translation and subsequent Gcn4p-dependent expression by Gcn2p-independent mechanisms. Thus, we measured the expression of the GCN4-LacZ and HIS4-LacZ reporters in the WT and gcn mutant strains under osmotic shock with or without FK506. As shown in Fig. 7A, activation of GCN4 induced by FK506 was abolished in all the mutants tested under osmotic shock. Moreover, expression of the HIS4-LacZ reporter was also inhibited (Fig. 7B), ruling out the possibility that a Gcn4p-regulated gene product would mediate the FK506 sensitivity of the strain lacking GCN2.
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FK506 toxicity in the gcn2 mutant could also be explained by the inability of this mutant to induce tryptophan biosynthesis under tryptophan starvation produced by FK506. If that were the case, then addition of excess tryptophan should alleviate the osmotic-sensitive phenotype of this mutant. Therefore, we tested the colony-forming ability of the gcn2 mutant in sorbitol with FK506 in a medium containing 4-fold excess tryptophan. As shown in Fig. 7C, excess tryptophan fully rescued the FK506 sensitivity of the gcn2 mutant, thus showing that tryptophan starvation was responsible for this effect. Excess tryptophan also relieved FK506 toxicity in the gcn3 and -4 mutant strains (data not shown). As these mutants were partially resistant to FK506 osmotic sensitivity, this result suggests that tryptophan deprivation was also involved in the FK506 sensitivity of these strains but to a lesser extent than in the gcn2 mutant.
Hog1p Regulates Gcn2p Activation Induced by FK506 We have
shown above that Gcn2p activation induced by FK506 strongly influenced Hog1p
function and Hog1p-dependent gene expression. We then tested whether Hog1p was
also able to regulate the FK506-dependent activation of Gcn2p. This
possibility was explored by studying FK506-induced phosphorylation of
eIF-2
, a known physiological substrate of the Gcn2p kinase, in the
WT and hog1 mutant strains. We analyzed the phosphorylation
status of eIF-2
by immunoblot analysis using a commercially available
polyclonal antibody that specifically recognizes eIF-2
phosphorylated
at serine 51 (see "Experimental Procedures"). As expected, FK506
treatment induced sustained phosphorylation of eIF-2
in the WT
strain in a time-dependent manner (Fig.
8A). Remarkably, loss of Hog1p function negatively
affected eIF-2
phosphorylation by FK506. We confirmed this result by
measuring FK506 induction of the GCN4-LacZ reporter in the
hog1 strain. Again, no GCN4-LacZ expression was observed in
the hog1 mutant, thus showing that Hog1p function was required for
efficient Gcn2p activation and GCN4 translation by FK506.
Accordingly, the hog1 mutant was more sensitive to growth inhibition
by FK506 than the WT strain (Fig.
8C). Taken together, these data demonstrate that Hog1p
also modulates Gcn2p, further supporting a functional connection between both
protein kinases.
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| DISCUSSION |
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The most relevant event triggering FK506-induced osmotic sensitivity seems to be amino acid starvation, and more specifically tryptophan starvation. It was shown previously that FK506 inhibited amino acid import and activated the GCN pathway (18). Accordingly, FK506 toxicity was relieved by adding excess tryptophan and by expression of either the TRP1 gene or those genes encoding tryptophan transporters TAT1-TAT2 (18, 34). However, it is still not known how FK506 impairs amino acid transport by TAT1-TAT2. This effect is not attributable to inhibition of calcineurin or any of the known immunophilins in yeast as strains deficient for these genes are still sensitive to FK506 toxicity (22, 33). Similar phenotypes with respect to tryptophan auxotrophy and rescue by excess tryptophan or expression of TAT2/TRP1 genes have been reported in several studies on perturbations of sphingolipid metabolism (4346), high pressure (47), and volatile anesthetics (48). Moreover an erg6 mutant defective in ergosterol biosynthesis is also defective in tryptophan uptake (49). Tryptophan import is inherently cold-sensitive, and many cold-sensitive mutants in yeast are tryptophan auxotrophs or have mutations in tryptophan permeases or tryptophan biosynthesis (5052). Thus, tryptophan transport appears to be a weak link in yeast physiology, becoming limiting for cell growth under a variety of stress conditions. FK506 may inhibit Tat1p-Tat2p function, turnover, and/or trafficking by altering plasma membrane lipid composition. Interestingly, FK506 inhibits directly the function of PDR5 (53), an ABC transporter known to control the phospholipid content of plasma membrane (54). Additionally, deletion of the TOR-regulated NPR1 kinase, which regulates TAT2 tryptophan permease turnover, alleviates FK506 toxicity (55). Further experiments are required to strengthen this hypothesis.
As a consequence of tryptophan deprivation, FK506 strongly induced the
GCN pathway (Fig. 3).
Our results demonstrate that activation of this pathway also contributes to
osmotic stress sensitivity by interfering with Hog1p pathway function. Several
observations support this hypothesis. Tryptophan availability blocked
GCN pathway activation and alleviated osmotic sensitivity. Genetic
disruption of the GCN pathway partially relieved FK506 toxicity. Most
importantly, FK506 augmented osmotic stress-induced Hog1p phosphorylation and
inhibited Hog1p-dependent CRE-LacZ reporter expression in a
Gcn2p-dependent manner. The most relevant conclusion drawn from these findings
is the existence of a functional link between Hog1p and Gcn2p kinases.
Accordingly, deletion of HOG1 blocked increases in the
phosphorylation of eIF-2
and GCN4 translation normally
elicited by addition of FK506. Functional connections between these two
pathways have been described previously mainly at the transcriptional level
(25,
56). Our results further
extend this link, suggesting that Gcn2p and Hog1p could directly or indirectly
regulate each other. To our knowledge, this is the first evidence establishing
a functional connection between these protein kinases. The mechanism
underlying this bidirectional regulation remains unknown. The simplest model
would involve direct phosphorylation between both kinases. However no genetic
or biochemical data supporting this possibility are available so far.
Alternatively, this regulatory loop could be mediated by other components
controlled by Gcn2p or Hog1p. Activation of Gcn2p by new phosphorylation
events, some of them yet to be identified, has been shown to occur
(57,
58). One or some of these
events could be dependent on Hog1p. Conversely, Gcn2p could regulate the
function of activators or inhibitors of Hog1p. FK506 incremented Hog1p
activation by high osmolarity that did not lead to increased expression of the
Hog1p-dependent CRE-LacZ reporter. This evidence is consistent with a
signaling defect downstream of Hog1p that could involve perturbations of Hog1p
nucleocytoplasmic trafficking
(14) as it has been described
before (59). Hog1p activity is
also controlled by the Ser-Thr protein phosphatases Ptc1p, -2p, and -3p and
the Tyr phosphatases Ptp2p and -3p
(60), for which function would
somehow be influenced by Gcn2p. Experiments addressing these issues are
currently underway.
FK506-dependent Hog1p hyperphosphorylation required Gcn2p but not Gcn1p. Monitoring of uncharged tRNA levels by the HisRs-related sequences of Gcn2p is facilitated by Gcn1p and -20p (35) under amino acid or purine starvation (28). Therefore, FK506 could induce Gcn2p activation through alternative mechanisms. Interestingly, rapamycin, an inhibitor of TOR kinases, triggers Gcn2p activation by dephosphorylation of Ser-577 mediated by the type 2A-related protein phosphatase regulator TAP42 (58). As FK506 induces sustained tryptophan deprivation and as amino acid starvation is known to modulate TOR pathway function (61), this novel mechanism of Gcn2p activation may contribute to FK506 induction of GCN4 translation.
Deletion of GCN3 and -4 partially alleviated FK506-induced osmotic sensitivity in yeast without relieving FK506 toxic effects on the Hog1p pathway. Thus, additional mechanisms dependent on the GCN pathway are involved in FK506 toxicity. Expression of one or some Gcn4p-regulated genes may be toxic for yeast growth under osmotic stress in the presence of FK506. Indeed, GCN4 overexpression without affecting translation initiation increases sensitivity to salt stress (25). Accordingly, no GCN4 translation was detected in the gcn3 and -4 mutants. Thus, it is reasonable to think that under stress conditions, overactivation of some Gcn4p-regulated genes would create metabolic problems or elicit counteracting cellular responses, thus compromising cell integrity. Good candidates would be Gcn4p target genes encoding regulatory proteins recently identified by a whole-genome expression profiling in cells starved from histidine (62).
Inactivation of GCN3 but not GCN2 led to FK506
resistance. The sole reported function of GCN3 is to modulate eIF-2B
activity in response to eIF-2
phosphorylation by GCN2
(3739).
This result would be explained if FK506 could induce the GCN pathway
partly in a Gcn2p-independent manner as it has been recently reported
(41). Alternatively, some
Gcn4p-dependent transcription not involving Gcn3p function but requiring Gcn2p
would also occur similarly as it was reported in yeast under glucose
stimulation or UV irradiation
(63). Although we did not
detect any GCN4 translation or Gcn4p-dependent transcription in the
gcn2 and -3 mutant strains under the conditions tested, none
of the above mentioned possibilities can be excluded.
Remarkably, Hog1p was required for activation of Gcn2p induced by FK506.
This suggests that, upon osmotic shock, yeast cells could down-regulate
protein synthesis at the initiation level partly through Hog1p-dependent
activation of Gcn2p and subsequent phosphorylation of eIF-2
. Consistent
with this idea, we were able to detect increased phosphorylation of
eIF-2
after osmotic stress in a Gcn2p-dependent
manner.2 It has been
recently reported that osmotic stress-induced down-regulation of protein
synthesis might be mediated by the Hog1p MAP kinase pathway. Hog1p was shown
to phosphorylate and activate Rck2p kinase, a calmodulin-like protein kinase
(16). Active Rck2p
phosphorylates the EF-2 translation elongation factor, thus inhibiting
translation elongation (16).
Our findings suggest that Hog1p activation can contribute to inhibition of
protein synthesis by osmotic stress via Gcn2p protein kinase at the initiation
step. These data give further support to the hypothesis that changes in
translational efficiency are due to a signaling event mediated by Hog1p.
The results reported in this study allow us to propose a tentative model for FK506 toxicity in yeast cells under osmotic shock. FK506 treatment induces a sustained amino acid starvation that strongly activates Gcn2p kinase activity by different mechanisms. As a consequence of Gcn2p activation, Hog1p phosphorylation induced by high osmolarity is incremented. Hyperphosphorylation of Hog1p appears to interfere with Hog1p-dependent gene expression. Active Gcn2p also induces strong GCN4 translation and Gcn4p-dependent gene expression. In addition, strong inhibition of protein synthesis by Gcn2p-dependent phosphorylation of eIF-2 also takes place. Collectively, all these responses triggered by FK506 negatively affect the cell defense responses to osmotic shock, thus decreasing viability under high osmolarity. Whether these responses elicited by FK506 in yeast are relevant to the secondary effects described in patients under FK506 therapy remains to be established and deserves further investigation.
| FOOTNOTES |
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Both authors contributed equally to this work. ![]()
¶ Fellow of the Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias. ![]()
** Fellow of the Comunidad Autonoma de Madrid. ![]()

Currently sponsored as an investigator by the Fondo de Investigaciones
Sanitarias. To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel.: 34-922319338;
Fax: 34-922319412; E-mail:
jmurguia{at}hecit.es.
1 The abbreviations used are: CsA, cyclosporin A; HOG,
High-Osmolarity-Glycerol; GCN, general amino
acid control; eIF-2, eukaryotic initiation factor 2; MAP, mitogen-activated
protein; CRE, cAMP-response element; WT, wild type. ![]()
2 C. J. Rodriguez-Hernandez and J. R. Murguía, unpublished
results. ![]()
| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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| REFERENCES |
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