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fhl1 gene of the fission yeast regulates transcription of meiotic genes and nitrogen starvation response, downstream of the TORC1 pathway

Current Genetics volume 63, pages 91–101 (2017)Cite this article

Abstract

Environmental changes, such as nutrient limitation or starvation induce different signal transducing pathways, which require coordinated cooperation of several genes. Our previous data revealed that the fhl1 fork-head type transcription factor of the fission yeast could be involved in sporulation, which was typically induced under poor conditions. Since the exact role of Fhl1 in this process was not known, we wanted to identify its downstream targets and to investigate its possible cooperation with another known regulator of sporulation. Gene expression and Northern blot analysis of the fhl1∆ mutant strain revealed the target genes involved in mating and sporulation. Our results also showed that Fhl1 could regulate nutrient sensing, the transporter and permease genes. Since the majority of these genes belonged to the nitrogen starvation response, the possible cooperation of fhl1 and tor2 was also investigated. Comparison of their microarray data and the expression of fhl1 + from a strong promoter in the tor2-ts mutant cells suggested that one part of the target genes are commonly regulated by Fhl1 and Tor2. Since the expression of fhl1 + from a strong promoter could rescue rapamycin and temperature sensitivity and suppressed the hyper-sporulation defect of the tor2-ts mutant cells, we believe that Fhl1 acts in TOR signaling, downstream of Tor2. Thus, this work shed light on certain novel details of the regulation of the sexual processes and a new member of the TOR pathway, but further experiments are needed to confirm the involvement of Fhl1 in nutrient sensing.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Ilona Lakatos for technical assistance. This work was supported by the Hungarian National Research Fund (OTKA K106172) and TAMOP-4.2.2.B-15/1/KONV-2015-0001. E. Pataki was supported by short-term mobility Grants from the EMBO fellowship and from Campus Hungary fellowship.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Genetics and Applied Microbiology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Debrecen, Egyetem tér 1, 4032, Debrecen, Hungary

    Emese Pataki, Matthias Sipiczki & Ida Miklos

  2. Department of Natural and Life Sciences, The Open University of Israel, University Road 1, 4353701, Ranana, Israel

    Ronit Weisman

Authors
  1. Emese Pataki
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  2. Ronit Weisman
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  3. Matthias Sipiczki
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  4. Ida Miklos
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Correspondence to Ida Miklos.

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Communicated by M. Kupiec.

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Pataki, E., Weisman, R., Sipiczki, M. et al. fhl1 gene of the fission yeast regulates transcription of meiotic genes and nitrogen starvation response, downstream of the TORC1 pathway. Curr Genet 63, 91–101 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00294-016-0607-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00294-016-0607-1

Keywords

  • Sporulation
  • Fork-head transcription factor
  • TOR pathway
  • Nitrogen response
  • Gene expression analysis
  • Schizosaccharomyces pombe