How Saccharomyces Responds to Nutrients. Annual review of genetics [Annu Rev Genet] Journal article

Yeast cells sense the amount and quality of external nutrients through multiple interconnected signaling networks, which allow them to adjust their metabolism, transcriptional profile and developmental program to adapt readily and appropriately to changing nutritional states. We present our current understanding of the nutritional sensing networks yeast cells rely on for perceiving the nutritional landscape, with particular emphasis on those sensitive to carbon and nitrogen sources. We describe the means by which these networks inform the cell's decision among the different developmental programs available to them-growth, quiescence, filamentous development, or meiosis/sporulation. We conclude that the highly interconnected signaling networks provide the cell with a highly nuanced view of the environment and that the cell can interpret that information through a sophisticated calculus to achieve optimum responses to any nutritional condition. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Genetics Volume 42 is November 03, 2008. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/catalog/pubdates.aspx for revised estimates.

Annual review of genetics [Annu Rev Genet]