The tRNA modification complex elongator regulates the Cdc42-dependent mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway that controls filamentous growth in yeast.

Signal transduction pathways control multiple aspects of cellular behavior, including global changes to the cell cycle, cell polarity, and gene expression, which can result in the formation of a new cell type. In the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway that controls filamentous growth induces a dimorphic foraging response under nutrient-limiting conditions. How nutritional cues feed into MAPK activation remains an open question. Here we report a functional connection between the elongator tRNA modification complex (ELP genes) and activity of the filamentous growth pathway. Elongator was required for filamentous growth pathway signaling, and elp mutants were defective for invasive growth, cell polarization, and MAPK-dependent mat formation. Genetic suppression analysis showed that elongator functions at the level of Msb2p, the signaling mucin that operates at the head of the pathway, which led to the finding that elongator regulates the starvation-dependent expression of the MSB2 gene. The Elp complex was not required for activation of related pathways (pheromone response or high osmolarity glycerol response) that share components with the filamentous growth pathway. Because protein translation provides a rough metric of cellular nutritional status, elongator may convey nutritional information to the filamentous growth pathway at the level of MSB2 expression.