Transcription profile of pho90_OX strain during growth in no phosphate medium

Depletion of essential nutrients triggers regulatory programs that prolong cell growth and survival. Starvation-induced processes increase nutrient transport, mobilize nutrient storage, and recycle nutrients between cellular components. This leads to an effective increase in intracellular nutrients, which may act as a negative feedback that down-regulates the starvation program. To examine how cells overcome this potential instability, we followed the transcription response of budding yeast transferred to medium lacking phosphate. Genes were induced in two temporal waves. The first wave was stably maintained and persisted even upon phosphate replenishment, indicating a positive feedback loop. This commitment was abolished after two hours with the induction of the second expression wave, coinciding with the reduction in cell growth rate. We identify genes that mediate this loss of commitment, and show that the overall temporal stability of the expression response depends on the sequential pattern of gene induction. Our results emphasize the key role of gene expression dynamics in optimizing cellular adaptation. pho90_OX cells were grown at high Phosphate medium, washed and transferred to no phosphate medium. Sample were taken every 15 minuets for 6 hours Overall design: 25 samples were taken during the time course. Expression data was normalized to the first time point (cells grown at high phosphate medium)

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Vardi N, Levy S, Gurvich Y, Polacheck T, Carmi M, Jaitin D, Amit I, Barkai N