Sensory input attenuation allows predictive sexual response in yeast.
Nat Commun
; 7: 12590, 2016 08 25.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-27557894
ABSTRACT
Animals are known to adjust their sexual behaviour depending on mate competition. Here we report similar regulation for mating behaviour in a sexual unicellular eukaryote, the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We demonstrate that pheromone-based communication between the two mating types, coupled to input attenuation by recipient cells, enables yeast to robustly monitor relative mate abundance (sex ratio) within a mixed population and to adjust their commitment to sexual reproduction in proportion to their estimated chances of successful mating. The mechanism of sex-ratio sensing relies on the diffusible peptidase Bar1, which is known to degrade the pheromone signal produced by mating partners. We further show that such a response to sexual competition within a population can optimize the fitness trade-off between the costs and benefits of mating response induction. Our study thus provides an adaptive explanation for the known molecular mechanism of pheromone degradation in yeast.
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Tipo de estudo:
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Nat Commun
Ano de publicação:
2016
Tipo de documento:
Article