Farnesol-induced growth inhibition in Saccharomyces cerevisiae by a cell cycle mechanism

The growth of budding yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, was inhibited in med ium containing 25 mu M farnesol (FOH). The FOH-treated cells were still via ble, and were characterized by a transition from budded to unbudded phase a s well as a significant loss of intracellular diacylglycerol (DAG). FOH-ind uced growth inhibition could be effectively prevented by the coaddition of a membrane-permeable DAG analogue which can activate yeast protein kinase C (PKC). However, yeast cell growth was not initiated upon addition of the P KC activator when the cells had been pretreated with FOH for 20 min. The fa ilure in cell growth recovery was believed to be due to a signalling-mediat ed cell cycle arrest in FOH-pretreated cells. Differential display analysis demonstrated that the expression of cell cycle genes encoding DNA ligase ( CDC9) and histone acetyltransferase (HAT2) was strongly repressed in FOH-tr eated cells. Repression of the expression of these genes was effectively ca ncelled when cells were grown in medium supplemented with DAC. The authors propose an interference with a phosphatidylinositol-type signalling which i s involved in cell cycle progression as a cause of FOH-induced growth inhib ition in yeast cells. The growth of budding yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae , was inhibited in cell cycle progression as a cause of FOH-induced growth inhibition in yeast cells.