Frequency-Modulated Localization Bursts Coordinate Gene Regulation

From Q-bio

In yeast, the transcription factor Crz1 is dephosphorylated and translocates into the nucleus in response to extracellular calcium. Using time-lapse microscopy, we found that Crz1 exhibited short bursts of nuclear localization (~2 minutes) that occurred stochastically in individual cells and propagated to the expression of downstream genes. Strikingly, calcium concentration controlled the frequency, but not duration, of localization bursts. Using an analytic model, we found that this frequency modulation (FM) of bursts ensures proportional expression of multiple target genes across a wide dynamic range of expression levels, independent of promoter characteristics. We experimentally confirmed this theory with natural and synthetic Crz1 target promoters. Another stress response transcription factor, Msn2, exhibits similar, but largely uncorrelated, localization bursts under calcium stress. These results suggest that FM regulation of localization bursts may be a general control strategy utilized by the cell to coordinate multi-gene responses to external signals.