Cytoophidia influence cell cycle and size in Schizosaccharomyces pombe

Abstract

CTP synthase (CTPS) forms cytoophidia in all three domains of life. Here we focus on the function of cytoophidia in cell proliferation using Schizosaccharomyces pombe as a model system. We find that converting His359 of CTPS into Ala359 leads to cytoophidium disassembly. By reducing the level of CTPS protein or specific point mutations, the loss of cytoophidia prolongs the G2 phase and expands cell size. In addition, the loss-filament mutant of CTPS leads to a decrease in the expression of genes related to G2/M transition and cell growth, including slm9. The overexpression of slm9 alleviates the G2 phase elongation and cell size enlargement induced by CTPS loss-filament mutant. Overall, our results connect cytoophidia with cell cycle and cell size control in Schizosaccharomyces pombe.