Genetic evidence for the functional redundancy of the calcineurin- and Mpk1-mediated pathways in the regulation of cellular events important for growth in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae mutants which exhibit phenotypes (calcium resistance and vanadate sensitivity) similar to those of calcineurin-deficient mutants were isolated. The mutants were classified into four complementation groups (crv1,2,3 and 4). Crv1 was allelic to cnb1, a mutation in the regulatory subunit of calcineurin. The nucleotide sequences of CRV2 and CRV3 genes which complemented the crv2 and crv3 mutations, respectively, are identical to those of BCK1/SLK1/SKC1/SSP31 and MPK1/SLT2, respectively, which are both involved in the MAP kinase cascade. A calcineurin-deletion mutation (delta cnb1), which by itself has no detectable effect on growth and morphology, enhanced some phenotypes (slow growth and morphological abnormality) of crv2 and crv3 mutants. These phenotypes of crv2 and crv3 mutants were partially suppressed by Ca2+ or by overproduction of the calcineurin subunits (Cmp2 and Cnb1). Like the calcineurin-deficient mutant, crv2 and crv3 mutants were defective in recovery from alpha-factor-induced growth arrest. The defect in recovery of the delta cnb1 mutant was suppressed by overexpression of MPK1. These results indicated that the calcineurin-mediated and the Mpk1- (Bck1-) mediated signaling pathways act in parallel to regulate functionally redundant cellular events important for growth.