Remodeling of Yeast Genome Expression in Response to Environmental Changes

TLDR

The study aimed to investigate how Saccharomyces cerevisiae remodels gene expression in response to diverse extracellular changes such as temperature, oxidation, nutrients, pH, and osmolarity. The authors performed genome‑wide expression profiling of yeast under these varied environmental conditions. The analysis revealed that over half of the yeast genome responds to environmental changes, identifying a core set of about 10 % of genes with a common signature, many of which are uncharacterized, and showed that Msn2/Msn4 activators drive this response, thereby providing a global transcriptional map of environmental adaptation.

Abstract

We used genome-wide expression analysis to explore how gene expression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae is remodeled in response to various changes in extracellular environment, including changes in temperature, oxidation, nutrients, pH, and osmolarity. The results demonstrate that more than half of the genome is involved in various responses to environmental change and identify the global set of genes induced and repressed by each condition. These data implicate a substantial number of previously uncharacterized genes in these responses and reveal a signature common to environmental responses that involves ∼10% of yeast genes. The results of expression analysis with MSN2/MSN4 mutants support the model that the Msn2/Msn4 activators induce the common response to environmental change. These results provide a global description of the transcriptional response to environmental change and extend our understanding of the role of activators in effecting this response.