Ecological history shapes transcriptome variation in quiescent Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Quiescence is a pivotal state for all living organisms and cells. Recent research indicates lack of one type of qui-escent cells. That is, even if the primary feature of quiescence, restarting divisions is maintained, quiescent cells within populations exhibit variation in their cellular architecture and characteristics. While it is known that the process of quiescent enter is influenced by a combination of nutrient starvation and temporal factors; the under-lying mechanisms remain to be fully elucidated. In this study we compare the transcriptomes of known to be homogenous fraction of dense quiescent yeast isolated from populations of different ecological history. These populations have undergone experimental enrichment of certain types of quiescent cells during cycles of growth and starvation for 300 generations. Transcriptome analysis revealed discrepancies in terms of characteristics as-sociated mainly with energy turnover processes, biosynthesis and the cell wall maintenance. The results of this study suggest that quiescent cells possess the capacity to adapt their transcriptome activity in accordance with their evolutionary history. Overall design: RNA-seq profiling of “homogenous” fraction of quiescent cells within the lines that differ about 300 generations of different selection-enrichment experimental procedure, derived from our previ-ous study (Wloch et all 2017) .