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J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 281, Issue 33, 24070-24083, August 18, 2006
Multiple Endoplasmic Reticulum-to-Nucleus Signaling Pathways Coordinate Phospholipid Metabolism with Gene Expression by Distinct Mechanisms*
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| ABSTRACT |
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| INTRODUCTION |
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The model eukaryote, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, adjusts its membrane lipid composition according to the availability of the soluble phospholipid precursors, inositol and choline (8-13). The addition of inositol to yeast cells starved for inositol induces a rapid and profound change in the pattern and synthesis of membrane phospholipids (11-13) and inositol-containing sphingolipids (14). PI levels increase up to 6-fold, while CDP-diacylglycerol and phosphatidic acid (PA), the immediate precursors to PI, are consumed. These changes in membrane lipid composition are sensed by Opi1p (12), which is localized to the ER through its association with the conserved vesicle-associated-membrane protein-associated protein, Scs2p (15), and PA (12). Upon addition of inositol, Opi1p rapidly dissociates from the ER, translocates to the nucleus, and represses the expression of the structural genes required for phospholipid biosynthesis (12, 16). The regulated expression of these structural genes requires both Ino2p and Ino4p, which bind as a heterodimer to the UASINO element present in the promoters of Opi1p target genes (17). Opi1p appears to mediate the repression of UASINO-containing genes through a direct interaction with Ino2p (18, 19).
In a previous study, we showed that the transcription of INO1, the most highly regulated of the Ino2p-Ino4p target genes (16), is rapidly repressed by Opi1p when inositol is added to the growth medium (12). In the present study, we profiled the temporal changes in global gene expression after the addition of inositol to the growth medium of dividing yeast cells. The goal of this experiment was to identify both the sequence and timing of every gene whose expression level responds to the rapid and profound changes in phospholipid metabolism that are induced by inositol supplementation (13). By comparing the identified patterns of gene expression with the measured ongoing and induced changes in phospholipid metabolism under identical growth conditions in a parallel study (13), we reasoned that we would identify metabolic signaling networks, originating at the site of membrane synthesis, that coordinate phospholipid metabolism with gene expression.
Our findings indicate that multiple distinct signals, produced by the rapid changes in phospholipid metabolism induced by inositol supplementation, emanate from the ER and directly control the expression of genes representing at least six distinct transcriptional profiles. These include phospholipid biosynthetic genes regulated by Opi1p, ER luminal protein folding chaperone and oxidoreductase genes regulated by the UPR pathway, and lipid-remodeling genes regulated by Mga2p, an ER-localized transcription factor that is activated by proteolytic cleavage from the membrane. Within a similar time frame following the exposure to inositol, numerous genes involved in ribosome biogenesis are transiently up-regulated. Simultaneously, cytosolic stress response genes are down-regulated, suggesting that growth in the absence of inositol is a stress condition that is alleviated by the addition of inositol. We also report that the UPR pathway is rapidly inactivated by inositol supplementation. Moreover, our results demonstrate that the UPR pathway response to inositol is separable from the response mediated by Opi1p. Overall, these results indicate that altering membrane lipid composition has acute effects on global gene expression networks and suggest that the interplay among distinct ER membrane-localized signaling pathways contributes to this response.
| EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES |
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, his3
1, leu2
0, lys2
0, ura3
0) derived from S288C (20) was used in all microarray experiments. The isogenic hac1
strain (MAT
, his3
1, leu2
0, lys2
0, ura3
0, hac1
::KanMx) was purchased from Research Genetics (now Invitrogen). Individual strains containing single disruptions in ELO1, MGA2, NTE1, SPT23, PLB2, TIP1, or YOR175C, in which the entire targeted ORF was replaced with the HIS3 marker, were constructed by PCR-mediated gene replacement using the pFA6a-His3MX6 template (kind gift of M. Longtine) as described previously (21) in the wild-type strain BY4742. All strains were maintained on YPD plates (1% yeast extract, 2% bactopeptone, 2% glucose, and 2% agar).
The hac1
strain was transformed with the centromeric YCp-HAC1
intron plasmid (pHAC1i, kind gift of K. Mori) and maintained on leucine dropout medium. The wild-type and isogenic mga2
strains were transformed with the pAM6 plasmid (kind gift of C. Martin), containing a tandem repeat LORE-CYC1-lacZ fusion (22), and maintained on uracil dropout medium. The mga2
strain was also co-transformed with the pAM6 plasmid and pAM31 centromeric plasmid (kind gift of C. Martin), containing MGA2 lacking codons for the C-terminal 172 amino acids (23), and maintained on uracil and leucine double dropout medium.
Cell GrowthCells were grown in chemically defined synthetic growth media for at least twelve generations without inositol containing 1 mM choline-Cl at 30 °C to mid-logarithmic growth phase exactly as previously described (16). myo-Inositol was then added to the growing culture at a final concentration of 75 µM. Samples were harvested by filtration immediately prior to the addition of inositol and at 5-, 15-, 30-, 60-, and 120-min intervals following the addition of inositol. Harvested cells were flash frozen and stored at -80 °C.
RNA Isolation and Microarray AnalysisTotal RNA was obtained from cells by the high temperature acid phenol method, and mRNA was isolated using oligo(dT) cellulose as previously described (16). mRNA from cells collected immediately prior to the addition of inositol was used as a common reference. Cy5- and Cy3-labeled cDNA probes were synthesized from mRNA collected at each time point, combined with fluorescently labeled cDNA probes from the reference sample, and hybridized to Corning CMT Yeast-S288c Gene Arrays (version 1.32, Corning, Inc.) containing 6,135 unique Saccharomyces cerevisiae ORFs as described previously (16). Hybridized microarray slides were simultaneously scanned with lasers at 532- and 635-nm bandwidths using a GenePix 4000B array scanner (Axon Instruments, Inc.). Each experiment was performed in quadruplicate.
Statistical AnalysisTo ensure that dye-specific biases were not introduced, a dye-swap design was performed for each time point/reference pair. Image analysis for each array was processed using the GenePix Pro 4.0 (Axon Instruments, Inc.) software package, which produces fluorescence intensity pairs (R and G) for each gene. After image acquisition, individual data spots on each microarray were visually inspected for size, signal-to-noise ratio, background level, and uniformity. Using these quality control criteria,
14% of the spots for each quadruplicate set of experiments were discarded because of poor spot quality, a conventional practice for microarray data analysis (24). As a result, we obtained 5991 unique ORFs for our subsequent analysis. Normalization for each slide was conducted as follows: let M = log2(R/G), and A = 0.5log2(RG).
The log ratio M is dependent upon the overall spot intensity A (25). This intensity-dependent trend for each replicate was fitted using the PROC LOESS function (26) in SAS. Next, the log ratio values (M) were normalized by subtracting the trend values. For each ORF, in which at least three high quality replicates were available at each time point, a Student t test was performed on normalized M using the null hypothesis of no change in expression (i.e. normalization to M = 0). The t statistic was computed for each ORF at each time point, and 1455 ORFs were selected with a p value of
0.025 for at least one of the five time points. From this set of ORFs, 712 unique genes were selected whose absolute normalized M values exhibited
0.5-fold change in at least a single time point. For these genes, a B-spline projection was performed followed by principle component analysis for the projected values, which captures the variance in a dataset (27). The principle components were then subjected to hierarchical clustering, a technique for finding gene clusters based on co-expression (28), and 28 clusters were formed. When used sequentially, principle component analysis and hierarchical clustering are a powerful statistical method for identifying regulated patterns in microarray time-course data (29). Because a common reference sample was used, the absolute abundance for eight representative mRNAs (ACT1, ELO1, FAA4, HAC1, INO1, KAR2, OLE1, and TCM1) over the time course was verified by quantitative Northern blot analysis. These data obtained by Northern blotting agreed with the ratios obtained by the microarray analysis; therefore, changes in the ratios measured by microarray analysis should reliably reflect actual changes in mRNA levels at each time point.
Enrichment for specific transcription factor gene associations in our dataset was determined utilizing the yeast genome-wide location analysis dataset of Harbison et al. (30). The number of promoter regions in the 712 significantly regulated genes that contained a bound transcription factor (X), using a p value threshold of 0.005, was counted. This number was compared with the total gene occupancy across the genome for the same transcription factor (Y). Any specific transcription factor with a ratio X/Y > 1 was considered to be enriched. From this analysis, 58 transcription factors out of a total of 203 yeast transcription factors for which the genomic occupancy was determined (30) were enriched in our dataset. Gene ontology term associations for the yeast genome were obtained from the Saccharomyces Genome Database (www.yeastgenome.org) in August, 2005. The list of UPR pathway target genes was obtained from Travers et al. (31). Promoter analysis was performed using RSA TOOLS (rsat.ulb.ac.be/rsat/) (32) using the LORE consensus WCYCAACAA (22) as the seed sequence.
Northern Blot Analysis2 µg of total RNA or 250 ng of mRNA was fractionated on 1.1% glyoxal agarose gels and transferred to Nytran SuPerCharge nylon membranes (Schleicher and Schuell) using a turboblotter (Schleicher and Schuell) as described (33). Strand-specific 32P-labled riboprobes were synthesized from linearized plasmids pJH310-INO1 (34), pAB309
-TCM1 (35), pGEM-HAC1 (36), pSJ29-KAR2 (16), pSJ33-OLE1, pSJ34-ACT1, pSJ35-FAA4, pSJ36-lacZ, and pSJ37-ELO1 by in vitro transcription according to the manufacturer's instructions (16) and hybridized to membranes in formamide hybridization buffer as described (16). Quantitation was performed by analysis on a STORM 860 PhosphorImager (Amersham Biosciences) and analyzed with ImageQuaNT software. pSJ34-OLE1 was constructed by PCR-amplifying the OLE1 ORF and inserting the 798-bp HindIII-XbaI fragment into pGEM1. pSJ35-ACT1 was constructed by PCR-amplifying the ACT1 ORF and inserting the 321-bp BglII fragment into pGEM1. pSJ36-FAA4 was constructed by PCR-amplifying the FAA4 ORF and inserting the 837-bp EcoR1 fragment into pGEM1. pSJ37-lacZ was constructed by PCR-amplifying the Escherichia coli lacZ ORF from pAM6 and inserting the 723-bp HindIII-XbaI fragment into pGEM1. pSJ38-ELO1 was constructed by PCR-amplifying the ELO1 ORF and inserting the 585-bp HindIII-XbaI fragment into pGEM1.
| RESULTS |
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In a recent study from our laboratory (13), we reported that the addition of inositol to cells grown in media lacking inositol, but containing choline, leads to a rapid and dramatic reprogramming of cellular lipid synthesis and turnover within a 30- to 60-min time frame. In the present study, we utilized microarray analysis to profile both the timing and ordering of genome-wide transcriptional changes following the addition of inositol in wild-type yeast cells. The time course and growth conditions were chosen to examine both the immediate and long term changes in gene expression and to allow a direct comparison to the metabolic profile of the changes in lipid metabolism induced by inositol addition (13). The complete dataset is available in Supplemental Data.
Overview of Gene Expression Profiles following Inositol SupplementationWe selected ORFs for analysis that showed a p value
0.025 over four replicates following normalization of our microarray data (described under "Experimental Procedures"). Using these criteria, we detected 712 genes that showed
0.5-fold change in expression in at least one time point over the course of the experiment. As we observed for specific phospholipids in our metabolic profiling experiments (12, 13), the transcriptional response to the addition of inositol was extremely rapid, with most genes showing a change in expression at early time points. Both transient and sustained changes in the patterns of gene expression were observed, revealing a dynamic transcriptional response following the addition of inositol (Fig. 1).
To identify regulated patterns of expression from our kinetic genome-wide analysis, each significantly regulated gene was grouped into 1 of 28 clusters showing a similar pattern of expression using the method of principle component analysis (27) followed by hierarchical clustering (28). Next, each cluster was examined for evidence of co-regulation using the four criteria described below. First, we utilized the comprehensive data set from the genome-wide location analysis study conducted by Harbison et al. (30), which identified the genomic binding sites for 203 transcriptional regulators. We compared their data set (30) with the set of genes that were identified in our present study and focused our analysis only on those transcription factors whose gene associations were significantly enriched in our dataset (see Supplemental Data for the list of enriched transcription factors). As expected, genes bound by Ino2p, Ino4p, and Opi1p were significantly enriched in our data set. Next, we examined for enrichment of gene ontology terms annotated in the Saccharomyces Genome Database within each cluster. Third, given that a set of UPR pathway target genes were detected in our previous microarray study (16), we inspected our dataset for enrichment of yeast UPR target genes determined by Travers et al. (31). Finally, genes within clusters were also examined for common promoter elements using RSA TOOLS. Individual clusters that were enriched for any or all of the above criteria were subsequently grouped into one of five superclusters, which we numbered I through V (Fig. 1). Genes within each supercluster that showed biological coherence were examined more closely and are described below.
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Supercluster II (Amino Acid and Purine Metabolism)The profile of expression of genes in this supercluster, which includes genes from a single cluster, showed a steady but gradual increase of expression throughout the time course (Fig. 3A). One quarter of the genes within this supercluster comprises genes that were shown by Harbison et al. (30) to contain bound Gcn4p or Bas1p transcription factors (Fig. 3, B and C). Gcn4p is a transcription factor that activates the transcription of amino acid biosynthetic genes in response to amino acid starvation (37). Gcn4p has also been shown to play a role in activating a subset of UPR target genes (38); however, none of the Gcn4p target genes found in this supercluster are known to be regulated by the UPR pathway. Bas1p is a transcription factor involved in regulating basal and induced expression of genes of the purine and histidine biosynthesis pathways (39, 40). Specifically, genes involved in the synthesis of adenine, histidine, and arginine are enriched in this supercluster.
Supercluster III (Stress Response)Genes within this supercluster, which is composed of two gene clusters detected in our statistical analysis, were rapidly repressed and returned to basal expression level by 120 min (Fig. 4A). Over one-quarter of these genes that made up this supercluster are genes involved in stress responses, including ten genes in the cytoplasmic heat shock protein family of protein folding chaperones, HSC82, HSP30, HSP42, HSP78, HSP82, HSP104, SIS1, SSA1, SSA2, and ST11, and genes regulated by heat shock transcription factor (41) (Fig. 4, B and C). In addition, genes bound by both Oaf1p-Pip2p (30), transcription factors that regulate genes involved in peroxisome formation (42, 43), were enriched in this cluster (Fig. 4, B and C).
Supercluster IV (Ino2p-Ino4p Targets, UPR Pathway, and Ty Element)Genes from five individual clusters identified in our statistical analysis were grouped to form this supercluster (Fig. 5A), which showed a rapid repression of gene expression levels that was sustained throughout the time course of the experiment. Three sets of genes were highly enriched in this supercluster, including genes containing bound Ino2p and Ino4p transcription factors, genes regulated by the UPR pathway, and Ty element retrotransposon genes (Fig. 5B).
Within the set of Ino2p-Ino4p targets, comprising 15% of the total number of genes in this supercluster (Fig. 5C), are genes that were previously identified as having the UASINO promoter element that are negatively regulated by inositol (16). Among this group are genes encoding enzymes for phospholipid biosynthesis (ACC1, CDS1, CHO1, CKI1, CPT1, FAS1, FAS2, INO1, OPI3, PSD1, and PSD2), transcriptional regulators (INO2 and OPI1), and the inositol (ITR1) and choline (HMN1) transporters (Fig. 5B). Of this set of Ino2p-Ino4p target genes, only INO1 had previously been shown to exhibit the rapid kinetics for repression shown here (12). The present study is the first report to show that the entire set of Ino2p-Ino4p target genes are co-regulated temporally, and thus are likely to respond to the same signal, namely, PA levels directly sensed by Opi1p (12).
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In addition, 16 genes involved in Ty element transposition were also detected within this supercluster (Fig. 5B). We previously reported that the steady-state expression of Ty2 element TYA GAG ORFs are significantly repressed in the presence of inositol in the growth media (16). Supercluster IV also includes genes of the Ty1 element retrotransposon family, but Ty1 and Ty2 element genes show different expression profiles at steady state (see Fig. 7 below) (16).
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9 fatty acid desaturase in S. cerevisiae (48); TIP1, encoding a potential lipase (49); and YOR175C, which is homologous to membrane-bound O-acyltransferase genes (50) (Fig. 6B). Comparison of this set of genes to the genome-wide location analysis dataset from Harbison et al. (30) did not reveal enrichment for any specific transcription factor. However, upstream promoter analysis revealed that three-quarters of the genes within this supercluster contained the low oxygen-responsive element (LORE) (Fig. 6C), suggesting a common means of regulation. The transcription factor Mga2p has previously been shown to function through this element (23, 51). The mechanism for this regulation was investigated further (see below). Most Genes Achieve Steady-state Expression Levels by 120 Min after Inositol AdditionNext we asked whether the expression profile of all genes following the addition of inositol had reached their steady-state level of expression within the 2-h time course. To this end we compared the expression level of each gene at the 120-min time point with its expression level after 12 generations of continuous growth in the presence of inositol obtained from our previous microarray analysis (16). This comparison showed that approximately 90% of the genes reached their steady-state expression level by 120 min following the addition of inositol (Fig. 7), suggesting that most changes in gene expression resulting from the addition of inositol are rapid and sustained until steady state. From this analysis, we concluded that the design of our current time-course microarray study effectively captured the full range of the dynamic transcriptional changes induced by the addition of inositol.
However, several interesting sets of genes were detected in the remaining 10% of genes that were not expressed at their steady-state level after 2 h (Fig. 7). First, although the vast majority of Ino2p-Ino4p target genes achieved their steady-state expression level by the 120-min time point, we detected four Ino2p-Ino4p target genes whose expression level following 2 h of growth in the presence of inositol differed from their steady-state expression level. One notable example was INO1, the most highly regulated Ino2p-Ino4p target gene (16), which had not reached its steady-state repression level by 120 min. INO1 is rapidly repressed following the addition of inositol (Figs. 5 and 8) but becomes further repressed after long term growth in the presence of inositol (Fig. 7). Previously, we also reported that the expression of BNA2, encoding a key enzyme in the de novo pathway for NAD+ biosynthesis (52), might respond to a requirement for NAD+ in the reaction catalyzed by the product of the INO1 gene (16). Although BNA2 is not an Ino2p-Ino4p target gene, its long term expression pattern is similar to INO1 (Fig. 7), suggesting that these genes may be co-regulated. Three additional Ino2p-Ino4p target genes that play important roles in fatty acid metabolism, FAS1 and FAS2, encoding the
and
subunits of fatty acid synthase (53, 54), and ACC1, encoding acetyl-CoA carboxylase (55), are repressed at the 120-min time point but return to near basal expression level by steady state. This result is in agreement with earlier studies that showed that, despite the presence of a functional UASINO element in their promoters, the steady-state expression of these genes is only moderately affected by inositol (16, 56).
The expression of two sets of genes, which are required for cellular adaptation to phosphate and zinc availability, also showed considerable differences in expression at steady state compared with the 120-min time point. Previously we reported that the steady-state expression levels of a subset of genes controlled by the PHO pathway, including PHO81, PHO84, VTC1, VTC3, and VTC4, were significantly down-regulated in the presence of inositol (16). However, in the present study, these genes were not significantly repressed by 120 min following the addition of inositol (Fig. 7). The zinc-regulated transcription factor gene, ZAP1, is also repressed at steady state but not at 120 min (Fig. 7). On the other hand, two zinc transporter genes, ZRT1 and ZRT2, were highly up-regulated at the 120-min time point but showed little differential expression by steady state (Fig. 7). Both phosphate and zinc are important nutrients that play important roles in regulating phospholipid metabolism (57-63). Taken together, these results suggest that long term adaptation to growth in the presence of inositol may require reprogramming of a number of regulatory circuits that sense nutrient availability.
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The UPR Pathway Is Rapidly Inactivated upon the Addition of InositolYeast cells grown in the absence of inositol induce the UPR pathway (36, 64, 65), an ER-to-nucleus signaling pathway that is activated in response to secretory stress (reviewed in Ref. 7). Activation of Ire1p, an ER-localized transmembrane protein that senses elevated levels of unfolded luminal ER proteins (66, 67), triggers the UPR response after its activation by oligomerization and autophosphorylation (68-71). Activated Ire1p subsequently catalyzes the unconventional splicing of the HAC1u (uninduced HAC1) transcript (72), relieving a translation block of this mRNA (73). Spliced HAC1i transcript (induced HAC1) is efficiently translated into active Hac1p transcription factor, which activates the transcription of target genes, including ER-luminal protein folding chaperones and oxidoreductases (31). Although the underlying cause for the requirement for the UPR in the absence of inositol is unknown, an intact and functional UPR pathway is clearly necessary for growth under these conditions, because deletion of genes encoding components of the UPR pathway results in inositol auxotrophy (65, 74-76).
Interestingly, the gene expression profiling studies reported here revealed that 46 UPR target genes are rapidly repressed upon the addition of inositol (Fig. 5). In agreement with our microarray data, quantitative Northern blotting of two highly characterized UPR targets (77-79) verified the rapid repression of UPR targets. Both HAC1 and KAR2 transcript levels were rapidly repressed (Fig. 8A, top and bottom panels), suggesting that the UPR pathway is abruptly inactivated upon inositol supplementation. To test this hypothesis, we monitored HAC1i mRNA processing by quantitative Northern blot analysis. In cells grown to mid-logarithmic phase in the absence of inositol,
19% of the total HAC1 mRNA transcript was present in the HAC1i spliced form (Fig. 8A, bottom panel, 0 min). Within 5 min, the level of spliced HAC1 mRNA was reduced by
1.5-fold and was virtually undetectable by 15 min (Fig. 8A). The rate of disappearance of the spliced HAC1i transcript is consistent with the kinetics of repression that was measured for KAR2 and other UPR pathway target genes (Figs. 5 and 8A, top panel). Given that only the spliced HAC1i is efficiently transcribed, and the measured half-life of the Hac1p transcription factor is only 1-2 min (80, 81), these data demonstrate that the UPR pathway is rapidly and completely inactivated upon the addition of inositol to yeast cells starved for inositol. To our knowledge this is the first reported example of conditions that rapidly deactivate the UPR pathway in any organism.
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To address whether the UPR pathway directly participates in the rapid Ino2p-Ino4p target gene repression upon the addition of inositol, we measured the kinetics of INO1 repression after inositol supplementation under conditions when the UPR is constitutively activated. A hac1
strain was transformed with a plasmid containing a modified HAC1 gene, in which its intron sequence was deleted. This "intronless" HAC1 construct (pHAC1i) expresses the translationally active HAC1i mRNA, which continuously produces the Hac1p transcription factor even under non-ER stress conditions, thus constitutively activating the UPR. Using growth conditions identical to those used in the experiment with wild-type cells, inositol was added to pHAC1i transformants grown to mid-logarithmic phase in the absence of inositol, and KAR2, INO1, and HAC1 transcripts were measured at various time intervals by quantitative Northern blotting. As expected, KAR2 mRNA levels remained constant throughout the experiment, consistent with continuous UPR activation (Fig. 8B, top panel). Importantly, this result shows that addition of inositol cannot override the Hac1p-dependent signals that regulate transcription of UPR target genes such as KAR2. However, in contrast to KAR2 levels, INO1 expression was repressed in the HAC1i-expressing strain (Fig. 8B, middle panel) with kinetics virtually identical to those observed in wild-type cells (Fig. 8C). These results clearly demonstrate that the presence of active Hac1p does not prevent Opi1p-mediated repression of INO1 in response to inositol. We conclude from these experiments that the signals responsible for UPR pathway and Ino2p-Ino4p target gene repression in response to inositol are independent.
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We asked whether one or both of these transcription factors is responsible for OLE1 expression in response to inositol supplementation. The transient induction of OLE1 transcription was monitored using quantitative Northern blotting following the addition of inositol in wild-type cells and compared with strains deleted for either MGA2 or SPT23. In wild-type cells, the expression of OLE1 was similar to the expression pattern in supercluster V (Fig. 9A, top panel), validating the result from our microarray analysis. Likewise, the pattern of OLE1 expression in the spt23
strain following the addition of inositol was identical to wild-type (Fig. 9A, bottom panel), demonstrating that Spt23p is not responsible for regulating the response of OLE1 expression to inositol. In both wild-type and spt23
strains, OLE1 transcript levels showed a peak induction of
6.5-fold at the 15-min time point, which is virtually identical to the OLE1 induction level measured in our microarrays. However, the expression of OLE1 in the mga2
strain was unchanged throughout the time course of the experiment (Fig. 9A, middle panel), demonstrating that Mga2p is responsible for the induction of OLE1 expression following the addition of inositol. Notably, MGA2 is also present in supercluster V.
In addition to OLE1, three other genes present in supercluster V, ATF1, IZH2, and IZH4, have been shown to be regulated by Mga2p (22, 47). We asked whether additional genes present in supercluster V are also regulated by Mga2p. We monitored the expression of FAA4, whose transcriptional regulation has not been reported, from wild-type and mga2
strains after inositol addition by Northern blotting. Whereas the expression pattern of FAA4 in wild-type cells was similar to our microarray data (Fig. 9B, top panel), FAA4 mRNA levels from the mga2
strain were unchanged throughout the time course of the experiment (Fig. 9B, bottom panel). These results demonstrate that the transient induction of FAA4 by inositol is controlled by Mga2p.
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strains showed no regulated expression from the LORE reporter (Fig. 10A, middle panel). Taken together, these results show that Mga2p regulates the expression of LORE-containing genes in supercluster V in response to inositol and expand the known number of Mga2p-regulated genes. Importantly, the repression profiles of INO1 and KAR2 in response to inositol were unaffected in either the spt23
or mga2
strains (data not shown), showing that neither transcription factor controls the inositol-mediated repression regulated by Opi1p or the UPR pathway.
Membrane-bound Mga2p Senses the Addition of Inositol and Operates through the LORE Element Present in Target Genes To gain insight into how Mga2p senses the inositol-induced signal, we asked if membrane association of Mga2p is required for the transient expression of target genes. An mga2
strain was transformed with an MGA2 construct lacking the codons for the C-terminal transmembrane domain. Using Northern blot analysis, this transformant, which expresses the soluble and active form of Mga2p, was tested for induction of LORE-lacZ expression by inositol. As shown in Fig. 10A, lacZ expression in the MGA2
TMD strain is constitutive (bottom panel), suggesting that the Mga2p
TMD is continuously activating transcription through the LORE element. This is in agreement with results showing that Mga2p
TMD acts as a powerful transcriptional activator (85). In addition, OLE1 was expressed at a basal level in the same transformant throughout the time course of the experiment (Fig. 10B, bottom panel). Importantly, neither OLE1 nor lacZ transcript levels in the MGA2
TMD strain were influenced by the addition of inositol. These results demonstrate that membrane association of Mga2p is necessary for the transient transcriptional activation of OLE1 and other co-regulated LORE genes in response to inositol, presumably by sensing the inositol-induced phospholipid metabolic changes in the ER.
Previous studies have shown that OLE1 expression, under the control of either full-length Mga2p or the constitutively active Mga2p
TMD, is strongly repressed by exogenously added unsaturated fatty acids (85), suggesting that Mga2p responds to multiple signals. Because the expression of many genes in supercluster V are repressed below basal level at the 60-min time point (Fig. 6), we hypothesized that a signal from fatty acid metabolism may be mediating this repression. However, in the MGA2
TMD strain both lacZ and OLE1 mRNA levels remain constant following the addition of inositol and are not repressed at the 60-min time point (Fig. 10, A and B). This result suggests that the repression of LORE-containing genes, following the addition of inositol, is not due to signals produced by exogenous unsaturated fatty acids.
Because supercluster V is highly enriched in genes involved in lipid remodeling, we asked whether the activity of specific genes in this set are required for the transient induction of LORE-containing genes. Deletion strains lacking genes found in supercluster V, including TIP1, which encodes a putative lipase, YOR175C, which is homologous to membrane-bound O-acyltransferase genes, and PLB2, which encodes a phospholipase B, were assayed for induction of OLE1 expression by inositol. In addition, two other strains lacking genes not found in supercluster V, including NTE1, which encodes an ER-localized phospholipase B (94), and ELO1, which encodes a fatty acid elongase (95), were analyzed. However, in single deletion strains lacking each of these genes, there was no effect on OLE1 regulation in response to inositol (data not shown), showing that the activity of these genes does not play in a direct role in mediating the expression of LORE-containing genes by inositol.
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| DISCUSSION |
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Signals Resulting from Inositol Metabolism Lead to the Rapid Inactivation of the UPR PathwayRecent studies have suggested a direct connection between the activation of the UPR pathway and increased phospholipid biosynthesis (65, 83, 84). The results reported in the present study show that the transcriptional responses of the UPR pathway and Ino2p-Ino4p target genes occur virtually simultaneously when inositol is added to the cells (Figs. 5 and 8), suggesting that the regulated expression of these two sets of genes is coupled. However, we present strong and compelling evidence that these two sets of genes are separately regulated. The phospholipid biosynthetic genes controlled by Opi1p are rapidly repressed by inositol even when the UPR pathway is constitutively activated (Fig. 8). These results are in agreement with other studies indicating that the UPR pathway is not directly involved in transcriptional regulation of Ino2p-Ino4p target genes (16, 36, 64).
Although the mechanism for activation of the UPR pathway in cells starved for inositol is unknown, we propose that activation of the UPR pathway is part of a generalized stress response that occurs when cells are starved for inositol. Wild-type cells grown in the absence of inositol exhibit a markedly reduced rate of PI synthesis, and a lower PI content relative to cells grown in the presence of inositol (12, 13), suggesting that reduced PI synthesis and/or content may result in UPR pathway activation. In addition, we also observed the transient down-regulation of genes involved in cytosolic protein folding chaperones regulated by heat shock transcription factor (41) (Fig. 4), suggesting that a higher expression of this set of genes is also required in the absence of inositol.
One question is whether the UPR pathway is sensitive to PI levels in particular or to overall phospholipid metabolism in general. In mammalian cells, blocking de novo synthesis of phosphatidylcholine through the CDP-choline pathway does not lead to activation of the UPR pathway (96). Moreover, yeast cells grown in the absence of choline, which lowers overall cellular phosphatidylcholine levels (13), do not induce the UPR pathway (16). Taken together, these results suggest that activation of the UPR pathway is responsive to overall PI levels, which are known to affect the level and synthesis of other essential inositol-containing components, such as glycosylphosphatidylinositol lipids (97) and sphingolipids (14), and may also influence levels of phosphoinositides and inositol polyphosphates.
Two likely scenarios may explain the mechanism for the rapid inactivation of the UPR pathway following the addition of inositol. First, current models for UPR activation suggest that Ire1p senses the buildup of unfolded proteins either directly (98) or indirectly through Kar2p (99-101). Complete inositol starvation in an Ino- mutant, which is incapable of producing inositol, leads to a rapid inhibition of processing of Gas1p, a glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored protein, and its exclusion from COPII vesicles. Trafficking of other secreted proteins in the same Ino- mutant also exhibit reduced rates of trafficking under identical growth conditions (97). Moreover, wild-type cells starved of inositol do not make sufficient levels to support the rate of PI synthesis observed in cells supplemented with inositol (13). Thus, limitation of PI may cause a slowing of exit of secreted proteins from the ER leading to activation the UPR pathway. Indeed, Sec- mutants blocked at various points in the secretory pathway also lead to activation of the UPR pathway (36). The addition of inositol may stimulate the rapid clearance of proteins from the ER, alleviating the need for UPR pathway activation. Alternatively, growth in the absence of inositol might lead to oligomerization and subsequent activation of Ire1p due to the lower PI content in the ER. Increasing PI levels might change the biophysical properties of the ER membrane to favor the monomeric, inactive state of Ire1p.
Potential Inositol-induced Signals That Activate Membrane-bound Mga2pPrevious studies have shown that growth of cells under hypoxic conditions stimulates Mga2p proteolytic processing and its subsequent transcriptional activation of OLE1 through the LORE promoter element (22, 23, 51). Our results suggest that the regulation of OLE1 and other LORE-containing genes in response to inositol occurs through a similar mechanism. Introduction of inositol might induce metabolic changes that produce a transient hypoxic state, thereby activating Mga2p proteolytic processing. For example, inositol might increase the demand for the oxygen-dependent fatty acid desaturation step catalyzed by Ole1p, thereby lowering local molecular oxygen levels, which in turn are sensed by Mga2p. This model is similar to the mechanism by which the Schizosaccharomyces pombe proteins Sre1 and Scp1 monitor oxygen-dependent sterol synthesis and mediate a hypoxic response (102, 103). On the other hand, it has been suggested that the hypoxic induction of OLE1 is coupled to respiratory chain function (104), suggesting that mitochondria produce reactive oxygen species that are sensed by Mga2p. However, we did not detect an increase in oxygen utilization after inositol addition (data not shown). Future research will focus on determining the molecular target for the activation of Mga2p by inositol.
Multiple Transcriptional Regulatory Networks Respond to Inositol-induced Metabolic Signals from the ERAnalysis of changes in gene expression accompanying inositol addition provides a powerful model for dissecting the interplay of lipid metabolism with major signaling networks in yeast cells. We propose that the dramatic changes in membrane lipid composition induced by inositol supplementation (13) produce signals in the ER that are responsible for the changes in global gene expression that we detected in the present study. Previously, we showed that a drop in PA levels induced by inositol is responsible for the regulation of Ino2p-Ino4p target genes through Opi1p (12). Mga2p may respond to an inositol-induced signal related to the consumption of molecular oxygen, whereas Ire1p may directly sense PI levels or indirectly detect the rate of secreted protein exit from the ER. Moreover, the secretory capacity of the ER may produce additional signals that influence the expression of genes found in supercluster I (Fig. 2). The expression of genes required for ribosome biogenesis is influenced by secretory function in a manner independent of the UPR pathway (105). Finally, the inositol polyphosphate multikinase, Arg82p, which is a component of the ArgR-Mcm1 complex, regulates many of the ARG genes found in supercluster II, through the inositol lipid kinase activity of this enzyme (106). Thus, increased flux through the phosphoinositide and soluble inositol polyphosphate pathway could play a role in regulating this set of genes. Given the current state of knowledge of the phospholipid metabolic pathways and availability of yeast mutants, it will be possible to dissect the relative inputs from various pathways to identify signals that regulate the global expression response. The next step will involve tests designed to probe how the various signals are integrated to achieve membrane homeostasis.
| FOOTNOTES |
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The on-line version of this article (available at http://www.jbc.org) contains supplemental text, references, and data. ![]()
1 To whom correspondence should be addressed: College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University, 260 Roberts Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853. Tel.: 607-255-2241; Fax: 607-255-3803; E-mail: sah42{at}cornell.edu.
2 The abbreviations used are: ER, endoplasmic reticulum; PI, phosphatidylinositol; UPR, unfolded protein response; PA, phosphatidic acid; ORF, open reading frame; LORE, low oxygen-responsive element. ![]()
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