A yeast pheromone-based inter-species communication system

We report on a pheromone-based inter-species communication system, allowing for a controlled cell-cell communication between the two species Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Schizosaccharomyces pombe as a proof of principle. It exploits the mating response pathways of the two yeast species employing the pheromones, alpha- or P-factor, as signaling molecules. The authentic and chimeric pheromone-encoding genes were engineered to code for the P-factor in S. cerevisiae and the a-factor in S. pombe. Upon transformation of the respective constructs, cells were enabled to express the mating pheromone of the opposite species. The supernatant of cultures of S. pombe cells expressing alpha-factor were able to induce a G(1) arrest in the cell cycle, a change in morphology to the typical shmoo effect and expression driven by the pheromone-responsive FIG1 promoter in S. cerevisiae. The supernatant of cultures of S. cerevisiae cells expressing P-factor similarly induced cell cycle arrest in G(1), an alteration in morphology typical for mating as well as the activation of the pheromone-responsive promoters of the rep1 and sxa2 genes in a pheromone-hypersensitive reporter strain of S. pombe. Apparently, both heterologous pheromones were correctly processed and secreted in an active form by the cells of the other species. Our data clearly show that the species-specific pheromone systems of yeast species can be exploited for a controlled inter-species communication.