Regulation of the subcellular localization of cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase in response to physiological stresses and sexual differentiation in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe.

We describe regulation of the subcellular localization of cyclic AMP (cAMP)-dependent protein kinase (PKA) regulatory (Cgs1p) and catalytic (Pka1p) subunits in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe in response to physiological stresses and during sexual differentiation as determined by fluorescence microscopy of the Cgs1-green fluorescent protein (GFP) and Pka1-GFP fusion proteins, respectively. In wild-type S. pombe cells cultured to log phase under normal growth conditions, Cgs1p and Pka1p are concentrated in the nucleus and more diffusely present in the cytoplasm. Nuclear localization of both proteins is dependent on cAMP, since in cells lacking adenylate cyclase they are detectable only in the cytoplasm. In cells lacking Cgs1p or both Cgs1p and adenylate cyclase, Pka1p is concentrated in the nucleus, demonstrating a role for Cgs1p in the nuclear exclusion of Pka1p. Nuclear-cytoplasmic redistribution of Cgs1p and Pka1p is triggered by growth in glucose-limited or hyperosmotic media and in response to stationary-phase growth. In addition, both proteins are excluded from the nucleus in mating cells undergoing karyogamy and subsequently concentrated in postmeiotic spores. Cgs1p is required for subcellular redistribution of Pka1p induced by growth in glucose-limited and hyperosmotic media and during karyogamy but is not required for Pka1p redistribution triggered by stationary-phase growth or for the enrichment of Pka1p in spores. Our results demonstrate that PKA localization is regulated by cAMP and regulatory subunit-dependent and -independent mechanisms in S. pombe.