Department of Biotechnology
inStem (Institute for Stem Cell Science and Regenerative Medicine)

Resource plasticity-driven carbon-nitrogen budgeting enables specialization and division of labor in a clonal community.

Publication Type

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Date of Publication

September 2, 2020

Journal

eLife

Volume/Issue

9

ISSN

2050-084X

Previously, we found that in glucose-limited colonies, metabolic constraints drive cells into groups exhibiting gluconeogenic or glycolytic states. In that study, threshold amounts of trehalose – a limiting, produced carbon-resource, controls the emergence and self-organization of cells exhibiting the glycolytic state, serving as a carbon source that fuels glycolysis (Varahan et al., 2019). We now discover that the plasticity of use of a non-limiting resource, aspartate, controls both resource production and the emergence of heterogeneous cell states, based on differential metabolic budgeting. In gluconeogenic cells, aspartate is a carbon source for trehalose production, while in glycolytic cells using trehalose for carbon, aspartate is predominantly a nitrogen source for nucleotide synthesis. This metabolic plasticity of aspartate enables carbon-nitrogen budgeting, thereby driving the biochemical self-organization of distinct cell states. Through this organization, cells in each state exhibit true division of labor, providing growth/survival advantages for the whole community.

Alternate Journal

Elife

PubMed ID

32876564

PubMed Central ID

PMC7467726

Authors

Sriram Varahan
Vaibhhav Sinha
Adhish Walvekar
Sandeep Krishna
Sunil Laxman

Keywords

Nucleotides
Carbon
Aspartic Acid
Gluconeogenesis
Microbiota
Nitrogen
Glucose
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Glycolysis
Trehalose