Cdc24, the source of active Cdc42, transiently interacts with septins to create a positive feedback between septin assembly and bud site formation in yeast cells.

Abstract

Yeast cells select at the beginning of each cell cycle the position of their new bud. The recruitment of the septins to this prospective bud site (PBS) is one of the critical events in a complex assembly pathway that culminates in the outgrowth of a new daughter cell. The septin-rods follow hereby the high concentration of Cdc42GTP that is generated by the focused location of its GEF Cdc24. We show that Cdc24 not only activates Cdc42 but temporarily interacts shortly before budding with Cdc11, the subunit that caps septin rods at its both ends. Mutations in Cdc24 that reduce the affinity to Cdc11 impair septin assembly and decrease the stability of the polarity patch. The interaction between septins and Cdc24 thus reinforces bud assembly at sites where septin structures are formed. Once the septins polymerize into the ring, Cdc24 transfers to its center and directs from there the further outgrowth of the membrane.