THERMOTOLERANCE IN SACCHAROMYCES-CEREVISIAE - THE YIN AND YANG OF TREHALOSE

Trehalose, a sugar produced by a wide variety of organisms, has long b een known for its role in protecting certain organisms from desiccatio n. Recent work in yeast indicates that trehalose also promotes surviva l under conditions of extreme heat, by enabling proteins to retain the ir native conformation at elevated temperatures and suppressing the ag gregation of denatured proteins. The latter property, however, seems t o impair the recovery of cells from heat shock if they fail to degrade trehalose after the stress has passed. These multiple effects of treh alose on protein stability and folding suggest a host of promising app lications.