Quantitative Analysis of Nutrient-responsive Signal Transduction Pathways in Saccharomyces Cerevisiae

Download or read book Quantitative Analysis of Nutrient-responsive Signal Transduction Pathways in Saccharomyces Cerevisiae written by Jonathan M. Raser and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Organisms and their component cells exist in a dynamic and unpredictable environment. Many of these environmental changes are potentially harmful or lethal. It is therefore unsurprising that cells are capable of adaptation to many of these potentially harmful environmental conditions. This adaptation requires both the ability to gather information about the environment, and the ability to convert the information gathered into the appropriate cellular response. Cells have developed specific signal transduction pathways that respond to a specific environmental stimulus and effect a specific, corresponding cellular response. Such signal transduction pathways are quantitative, in that cells do not simply display binary information processing but are capable of more subtle interpretation of different magnitudes of a particular stimulus. In particular, many signaling pathways enable adaptation to changing levels of environmental nutrients by control of cellular gene expression. We employed the single-cell eukaryote Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a model to study several facets of nutrient-responsive signal transduction in a quantitative manner. In the following text, we present our study of the sources of heterogeneity in gene expression in a population of genetically identical cells. In addition, we review recent advances in understanding of heterogeneity or noise in gene expression. Also, we present work characterizing the zinc-responsive signaling pathway in a quantitative manner, and studies uncovering the presence of positive feedback in the phosphate-responsive (PHO) signaling pathway.