Glucose induces cAMP-independent growth-related changes in stationary-phase cells of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Nutrients play a critical role in the decision to initiate a new cell cycle. Addition of nutrients to arrested cells such as stationary-phase cells and spores induces them to begin growth. We have analyzed the nutrients required to induce early cellular events in yeast. When stationary-phase cells or spores are incubated in the presence of only glucose, morphological and physiological changes characteristic of mitotically growing cells are induced and, in the absence of additional nutrients to support growth, the cells rapidly lose viability. Preincubation of stationary-phase cells in the presence of glucose decreases the time required to reach bud emergence upon the subsequent addition of rich medium. These processes are specifically induced by D-glucose and not by other components such as nitrogen source or L-glucose. The glucose-induced events are independent of the adenylate cyclase pathway, since strains with a temperature-sensitive mutation in either the adenylate cyclase gene (CDC35) or its regulator (CDC25) undergo glucose-induced cellular changes when incubated at the restrictive temperature. We suggest that glucose triggers events in the induction of a new mitotic cell cycle and that these events are either prior to the adenylate cyclase pathway or are in an alternative pathway.