Protein Kinase A (PKA) inhibition in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Kluyveromyces lactis

The goal of the study was to compare the response to Protien Kinase A (PKA) inhibition between Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Kluyveromyces lactis. The ancestor of K. lactis did not undergo the Whole Genome Duplication (or Whole Genome Hybridization) event that S. cerevisiae experienced. We found that many paralog pairs in S. cerevisiae were differentially induced in response to PKA inhibition, and that the shared ortholog for these paralog paris in K. lactis was typically not induced. To inhibit PKA, strains containing point mutations rendering PKA sensitive to inhibition by the ATP analog 1-NM-PP1 were generated. The transcription factors Msn2/4 and Rph1/Gis1 in S. cerevisiae and their shared orthologs in K. lactis were deleted in both species to quantify and compare the effect of those transcription factors on the response to PKA inhibition in each species.