Project description:We did transcription profiling on the effect of glucosamine in Saccharomyces cerevisiae using Research Genetics strains BY4741 (wild type) and 5251 (fks1). Yeast cells exposed to glucosamine in YPD growth medium show a significant increase in chitin content in the lateral cell wall. Likewise, cell wall stress caused by a gene deletion e.g., fks1 also results in elevated chitin. By comparing our data for fks1 with those from the literature we confirmed a strong induction of genes responsive to cell wall integrity, environmental stress as well as genes involved in cell signaling. Wild type cells treated with 15 mM glucosamine for 2 hours did not show any significant change in their transcription profile although the chitin level doubled during this time. For cells continuously exposed to glucosamine (steady state) there was a moderate transcription response, 105 genes showed a two-fold or higher change. The largest groups of up-regulated genes were those involved in mating, sporulation and cell cycle arrest. The largest group of down-regulated genes pertained to mitochondrial respiration. There was little overlap between those genes that have altered transcription from glucosamine treatment and those responsive to the fks1 mutation.
