Project description:Besides being building blocks for protein synthesis, amino acids serve a wide variety of cellular functions, including acting as metabolic intermediates for ATP generation and for redox homeostasis. Upon amino acid deprivation, free uncharged tRNAs trigger GCN2-ATF4 to mediate the well-characterized transcriptional amino acid response (AAR). However, it is not clear whether the deprivation of different individual amino acids triggers identical or distinct AARs. Here, we characterized the global transcriptional response upon deprivation of one amino acid at a time. With the exception of glycine, which was not required for the proliferation of MCF7 cells, we found that the deprivation of most amino acids triggered a shared transcriptional response that included the activation of ATF4, p53 and TXNIP. However, there was also significant heterogeneity among different individual AARs. The most dramatic transcriptional response was triggered by methionine deprivation, which activated an extensive and unique response in different cell types. We uncovered that the specific methionine-deprived transcriptional response required creatine biosynthesis. This dependency on creatine biosynthesis was caused by the consumption of S-Adenosyl-L-methionine (SAM) during creatine biosynthesis that helps to deplete SAM under methionine deprivation and reduces histone methylations. As such, the simultaneous deprivation of methionine and sources of creatine biosynthesis (either arginine or glycine) abolished the reduction of histone methylation and the methionine-specific transcriptional response. Arginine-derived ornithine was also required for the complete induction of the methionine-deprived specific gene response. Collectively, our data identify a previously unknown set of heterogeneous amino acid responses and reveal a distinct methionine-deprived transcriptional response that results from the crosstalk of arginine, glycine and methionine metabolism via arginine/glycine-dependent creatine biosynthesis. RNA was extracted by RNAeasy kits (Qiagen) from the MCF7 or PC3 cells which exposed to the control full DMEM or deprived one (or all) amino acid media for 24 or 48 hours.
Project description:The nucleotide (p)ppGpp is crucial for viability during amino acid limitation in bacteria, yet how it accomplishes this remains unknown. We found that the absence of (p)ppGpp in Bacillus subtilis cells leads to multiple amino acid auxotrophy, and that (p)ppGpp allows for prototrophy by reducing GTP levels. We provide evidence that reduction of GTP levels relieves the requirements for branched-chain amino acids primarily by preventing hyperactivity of the GTP-dependent transcriptional regulator CodY, but that GTP levels can also play an important role in regulating transcription of many amino acid biosynthesis genes independently of CodY. Thus, CodY-dependent and independent regulation of transcription by GTP levels plays overlapping yet distinct physiological roles in allowing amino acid prototrophy. Finally, supplementing these required amino acids does not protect against cell death upon nutrient downshift, but allows for sustained growth following this transition. We conclude that regulation of GTP levels by (p)ppGpp allows cells to adapt to conditions of amino acid limitation by first allowing survival during shifting nutrient conditions, and then allowing amino acid prototrophy by transcriptionally regulating amino acid biosynthesis. This strategy may be used to ensure viability during amino acid limitation in evolutionarily divergent bacteria.
Project description:The nucleotide (p)ppGpp is crucial for viability during amino acid limitation in bacteria, yet how it accomplishes this remains unknown. We found that the absence of (p)ppGpp in Bacillus subtilis cells leads to multiple amino acid auxotrophy, and that (p)ppGpp allows for prototrophy by reducing GTP levels. We provide evidence that reduction of GTP levels relieves the requirements for branched-chain amino acids primarily by preventing hyperactivity of the GTP-dependent transcriptional regulator CodY, but that GTP levels can also play an important role in regulating transcription of many amino acid biosynthesis genes independently of CodY. Thus, CodY-dependent and independent regulation of transcription by GTP levels plays overlapping yet distinct physiological roles in allowing amino acid prototrophy. Finally, supplementing these required amino acids does not protect against cell death upon nutrient downshift, but allows for sustained growth following this transition. We conclude that regulation of GTP levels by (p)ppGpp allows cells to adapt to conditions of amino acid limitation by first allowing survival during shifting nutrient conditions, and then allowing amino acid prototrophy by transcriptionally regulating amino acid biosynthesis. This strategy may be used to ensure viability during amino acid limitation in evolutionarily divergent bacteria. Twelve-condition experiment: wt, wt+RHX, wt+Guo, (p)ppGpp0, (p)ppGpp0+RHX, (p)ppGpp0+Guo, M-NM-^TcodY (p)ppGpp0, M-NM-^TcodY (p)ppGpp0+RHX, M-NM-^TcodY (p)ppGpp0+Guo, guaB- (p)ppGpp0, guaB- (p)ppGpp0+RHX, guaB- (p)ppGpp0+Guo. Biological replicates: 3 for each sample. Reference: a mixture of wt RNA from different growth phases and wt backgrounds.
Project description:For the first time in Lactococcus lactis, amino acid starvation response was characterized. The natural imposition of isoleucine starvation, by its consumption during growth, associated to transcript profiling, allowed defining exhaustively this stress stimulon. It consisted of a general induction of nitrogen metabolism (amino acid biosynthesis and transport, proteolytic system and proteases), a strong repression of genes encoding major physiological activities (translation, transcription, carbon metabolism, purine and pyrimidine biosynthesis and fatty acid metabolism) and the induction of unexpected cross responses to acid, osmotic and oxidative stresses. Keywords: stress response, time course
Project description:Besides being building blocks for protein synthesis, amino acids serve a wide variety of cellular functions, including acting as metabolic intermediates for ATP generation and for redox homeostasis. Upon amino acid deprivation, free uncharged tRNAs trigger GCN2-ATF4 to mediate the well-characterized transcriptional amino acid response (AAR). However, it is not clear whether the deprivation of different individual amino acids triggers identical or distinct AARs. Here, we characterized the global transcriptional response upon deprivation of one amino acid at a time. With the exception of glycine, which was not required for the proliferation of MCF7 cells, we found that the deprivation of most amino acids triggered a shared transcriptional response that included the activation of ATF4, p53 and TXNIP. However, there was also significant heterogeneity among different individual AARs. The most dramatic transcriptional response was triggered by methionine deprivation, which activated an extensive and unique response in different cell types. We uncovered that the specific methionine-deprived transcriptional response required creatine biosynthesis. This dependency on creatine biosynthesis was caused by the consumption of S-Adenosyl-L-methionine (SAM) during creatine biosynthesis that helps to deplete SAM under methionine deprivation and reduces histone methylations. As such, the simultaneous deprivation of methionine and sources of creatine biosynthesis (either arginine or glycine) abolished the reduction of histone methylation and the methionine-specific transcriptional response. Arginine-derived ornithine was also required for the complete induction of the methionine-deprived specific gene response. Collectively, our data identify a previously unknown set of heterogeneous amino acid responses and reveal a distinct methionine-deprived transcriptional response that results from the crosstalk of arginine, glycine and methionine metabolism via arginine/glycine-dependent creatine biosynthesis.
Project description:Cellular homeostasis is maintained by the balance between energy production and breakdown and is fundamental to all forms of life. The conserved, ancient target of rapamycin (TOR) kinase is a central metabolic regulator in eukaryotes that integrates carbon and nitrogen to maintain homeostasis and promote growth and development through protein synthesis. While TOR regulatory mechanisms of amino acid accumulation are well known in yeast and mammals, they remain unknown in photosynthetic organisms. Here, we developed the unicellular green alga Chromochloris zofingiensis as a simpler model system for understanding TOR function. Multiomics experiments showed that TOR inhibition leads to an increase in amino acid levels independent of hexokinase-mediated glucose signaling. We observed upregulation of selective amino acid biosynthesis pathways at the transcript and protein levels as potential mechanisms driving the increase in amino acids. Transcriptomics and proteomics experiments identified a basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factor with rapid upregulation during TOR inhibition. DAP-seq analysis demonstrated that bHLH can bind directly to the promoters of amino acid biosynthesis genes, potentially regulating their transcription in response to TOR inhibition. We found high conservation of the bHLH-binding motif in the genomes of other green algae and plants, suggesting a conserved regulatory mechanism for amino acid biosynthesis across Viridiplantae. Phosphoproteomics experiments also revealed novel conserved targets that are not currently recognized as part of the TOR pathway. Altogether, our findings elucidate the transcriptional regulation of amino acid metabolism and explain how TOR regulates nitrogen metabolism to support growth and development in photosynthetic organisms.
Project description:Our transcriptome data shows that ythA, which is a PspC family transcriptional regulator, obviously affects amino acid metabolism, pyrimidine biosynthesis and nisin immunity.
Project description:Using whole genome microarray (Affymetrix ATH1) we studied the transcriptional response of Arabidopsis thaliana to imidazolinone (Arsenal) herbicde that inhibits acetolactate synthase (ALS) enzyme and thus disrupts branched chain amino acid biosynthesis. A number of genes related to amino acid, protein metabolism, growth, regulatory networks, respiratory pathways, stress, defense and secondary metabolism were altered. Keywords: Acetolactate synthase (ALS) inhibiting herbicide stress response
Project description:Using whole genome microarray (Affymetrix ATH1) we studied the transcriptional response of Arabidopsis thaliana to primisulfuron (Beacon) herbicde that inhibits acetolactate synthase (ALS) enzyme and thus disrupts branmched chain amino acid biosynthesis. A number of genes related to amino acid, protein metabolism, growth, regulatory networks, respiratory pathways, stress, defense and secondary metabolism were altered. Keywords: Acetolactate synthase (ALS) inhibiting herbicide stress response