Microcompartments within the yeast plasma membrane

Abstract

Recent research in cell biology makes it increasingly clear that the classical concept of compartmentation of eukaryotic cells into different organelles performing distinct functions has to be extended by microcompartmentation, i.e., the dynamic interaction of proteins, sugars, and lipids at a suborganellar level, which contributes significantly to a proper physiology. As different membrane compartments (MCs) have been described in the yeast plasma membrane, such as those defined by Can1 and Pma1 (MCCs and MCPs), Saccharomyces cerevisiae can serve as a model organism, which is amenable to genetic, biochemical, and microscopic studies. In this review, we compare the specialized microcompartment of the yeast bud neck with other plasma membrane substructures, focusing on eisosomes, cell wall integrity-sensing units, and chitin-synthesizing complexes. Together, they ensure a proper cell division at the end of mitosis, an intricately regulated process, which is essential for the survival and proliferation not only of fungal, but of all eukaryotic cells.

Sterol transporters at membrane contact sites regulate TORC1 and TORC2 signaling

“…The yeast PM is actively organized by lipid and protein components into distinct membrane domains. The best-characterized PM domains include the membrane compartment of Pma1 (MCP), the membrane compartment of Can1/eisosome (MCC) domain, and the membrane compartment of TORC2 (MCT) compartment ( Merzendorfer and Heinisch, 2013 ). Contact sites between the cortical ER and PM in yeast are known to occupy ∼40% of the surface area of the PM in yeast, but the role of ER–PM contact sites in the creation and maintenance of these PM domains has not been well characterized ( Manford et al, 2012 ).…”

Yeast cell wall integrity sensors form specific plasma membrane microdomains important for signalling

“…The yeast plasma membrane has been shown to have a rather unusual distribution of transmembrane proteins compared to mammalian cells (reviewed in Merzendorfer and Heinisch, 2013). Originally, two large membrane domains have been defined in yeast as a punctate distribution of the marker proteins Can1 and Sur7 (MCC, which were later on associated with eisosomes) and a network-like distribution of other proteins like Pma1 (MCP; Malínská et al, 2003).…”

The wide‐ranging phenotypes of ergosterol biosynthesis mutants, and implications for microbial cell factories

“…The second to be described was termed MCP (for membrane compartment of Pma1), which describes the network‐like distribution of the H + ‐ATPase Pma1, which is strictly distinct from the MCC patches. Further domains that have been described are MCT (for membrane compartment of TORC2), and CWI (for cell wall integrity; reviewed in Merzendorfer & Heinisch, ).…”