Growth-rate-dependent and nutrient-specific gene expression resource allocation in fission yeast

Abstract

Cellular resources are limited and their relative allocation to gene expression programmes determines physiological states and global properties such as the growth rate. Here, we determined the importance of the growth rate in explaining relative changes in protein and mRNA levels in the simple eukaryote Schizosaccharomyces pombe grown on non-limiting nitrogen sources. Although expression of half of fission yeast genes was significantly correlated with the growth rate, this came alongside wide-spread nutrient-specific regulation. Proteome and transcriptome often showed coordinated regulation but with notable exceptions, such as metabolic enzymes. Genes positively correlated with growth rate participated in every level of protein production apart from RNA polymerase II–dependent transcription. Negatively correlated genes belonged mainly to the environmental stress response programme. Critically, metabolic enzymes, which represent ∼55–70% of the proteome by mass, showed mostly condition-specific regulation. In summary, we provide a rich account of resource allocation to gene expression in a simple eukaryote, advancing our basic understanding of the interplay between growth-rate-dependent and nutrient-specific gene expression.