A family of genes required for maintenance of cell wall integrity and for the stress response in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

摘要

The PKC1-MPK1 pathway in yeast functions in the maintenance of cell wall integrity and in the stress response. We have identified a family of genes that are putative regulators of this pathway. WSC1, WSC2, and WSC3 encode predicted integral membrane proteins with a conserved cys- teine motif and a WSC1-green fluorescence protein fusion protein localizes to the plasma membrane. Deletion of WSC results in phenotypes similar to mutants in the PKC1-MPK1 pathway and an increase in the activity of MPK1 upon a mild heat treatment is impaired in a wsc mutant. Genetic analysis places the function of WSC upstream of PKC1, suggesting that they play a role in its activation.