Abstract
Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells of a and α mating types constitutively secrete cell-specific peptide mating pheromones. a-Factor is secreted by a cells and acts on α cells, while α-factor is secreted by α cells and acts on a cells. Confirming preliminary studies1, we demonstrate here that cultures of a cells contain higher than constitutive levels of a-factor activity when grown with α cells or α-factor. This induction of a-factor may result from increased synthesis or increased secretion of a-factor, as opposed to modification or stabilization of preexisting a-factor, as part of the a cell response to α-factor, as an a ste2 mutant (which cannot respond to α-factor) is not induced by α-factor. In mixed cultures inoculated with equal numbers of a cells and α cells, a cells predominate by stationary phase. Thus, a series of sequential interactions between a and α cells may be involved in establishing optimal hormone concentrations and cell ratios for conjugation2.
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Strazdis, J., MacKay, V. Induction of yeast mating pheromone a-factor by α cells. Nature 305, 543–545 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1038/305543a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/305543a0
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