Hypoxia-induced Global Protein Relocalization in Yeast

Protein function and activity can be controlled by an effective mechanism of regulated protein localization. However, the contribution of protein localization in cellular signaling has not been examined systematically. Hypoxia is one of the common conditions experienced by higher eukaryotes under various physiological, pathological and disease conditions. The effect of hypoxia on protein localization may have broad implications in understanding hypoxia responses in eukaryotes ranging from yeast to human. The objective of this dissertation is to identify proteins on a genome-wide scale, that change their subcellular localization in response to hypoxia and to further study the dynamics of protein localization. Using fluorescent live-cell imaging and a previously generated yeast collection of over 4000 strains, each of which expresses a particular GFP-tagged protein, we systematically identified 203 proteins whose cellular localization patterns are altered under hypoxia. These proteins are involved in many essential regulatory/metabolic functions in various organelles.

Protein function and activity can be controlled by an effective mechanism of regulated protein localization.