LncRNAs of Saccharomyces cerevisiae bypass the cell cycle arrest imposed by ethanol stress

PLoS Comput Biol. 2022 May 19;18(5):e1010081. doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1010081. eCollection 2022 May.

Abstract

Ethanol alters many subsystems of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, including the cell cycle. Two ethanol-responsive lncRNAs in yeast interact with cell cycle proteins, and here, we investigated the role of these RNAs in cell cycle. Our network dynamic modeling showed that higher and lower ethanol-tolerant strains undergo cell cycle arrest in mitosis and G1 phases, respectively, during ethanol stress. The higher population rebound of the lower ethanol-tolerant phenotype after stress relief responds to the late phase arrest. We found that the lncRNA lnc9136 of SEY6210 (a lower ethanol-tolerant strain) induces cells to skip mitosis arrest. Simulating an overexpression of lnc9136 and analyzing CRISPR-Cas9 mutants lacking this lncRNA suggest that lnc9136 induces a regular cell cycle even under ethanol stress, indirectly regulating Swe1p and Clb1/2 by binding to Gin4p and Hsl1p. Notably, lnc10883 of BY4742 (a higher ethanol-tolerant strain) does not prevent G1 arrest in this strain under ethanol stress. However, lnc19883 circumvents DNA and spindle damage checkpoints, maintaining a functional cell cycle by interacting with Mec1p or Bub1p even in the presence of DNA/spindle damage. Overall, we present the first evidence of direct roles for lncRNAs in regulating yeast cell cycle proteins, the dynamics of this system in different ethanol-tolerant phenotypes, and a new yeast cell cycle model.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Cell Cycle / genetics
  • Cell Cycle Checkpoints / genetics
  • Cell Cycle Proteins / genetics
  • Cell Cycle Proteins / metabolism
  • Ethanol / metabolism
  • RNA, Long Noncoding* / genetics
  • RNA, Long Noncoding* / metabolism
  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae / metabolism
  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins* / genetics
  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins* / metabolism

Substances

  • Cell Cycle Proteins
  • RNA, Long Noncoding
  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins
  • Ethanol

Associated data

  • figshare/10.6084/m9.figshare.14503035.v1
  • figshare/10.6084/m9.figshare.17086109.v1

Grants and funding

GTV was funded by Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (2015/12093-9, and 2017/08463-0), Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (401041/2016-6), and by the open access funding provided by Max Planck Society. IRW was funded with a fellowship from Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (2015/19211-7). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Open Access funding provided by Max Planck Society.