Sexual pheromone modulates the frequency of cytosolic Ca(2+) bursts in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Transient and highly regulated elevations of cytosolic Ca(2+) control a variety of cellular processes. Bulk measurements using radioactive Ca(2+) and the luminescent sensor aequorin have shown that in response to pheromone, budding yeast cells undergo a rise of cytosolic Ca(2+) that is mediated by two import systems composed of the Mid1-Cch1-Ecm7 protein complex and the Fig1 protein. Although this response has been widely studied, there is no treatment of Ca(2+) dynamics at the single-cell level. Here, using protein calcium indicators, we show that both vegetative and pheromone-treated yeast cells exhibit discrete and asynchronous Ca(2+) bursts. Most bursts reach maximal amplitude in 1–10 s, range between 7 and 30 s, and decay in a way that fits a single-exponential model. In vegetative cells, bursts are scarce but preferentially occur when cells are transitioning G1 and S phases. On pheromone presence, Ca(2+) burst occurrence increases dramatically, persisting during cell growth polarization. Pheromone concentration modulates burst frequency in a mechanism that depends on Mid1, Fig1, and a third, unidentified, import system. We also show that the calcineurin-responsive transcription factor Crz1 undergoes nuclear localization bursts during the pheromone response.