Temperature-sensitive cytoophidium assembly in Schizosaccharomyces pombe

The metabolic enzyme CTP synthase (CTPS) is able to compartmentalize into filaments, termed cytoophidia, in a variety of organisms including bacteria, budding yeast, fission yeast, fruit flies and mammals. A previous study in budding yeast shows that the filament-forming process of CTPS is not sensitive to temperature shift. Here we study CTPS filamentation in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. To our surprise, we find that both the length and the occurrence of cytoophidia in S. pombe decrease upon cold shock or heat shock. The temperature-dependent changes of cytoophidia are fast and reversible. Taking advantage of yeast genetics, we demonstrate that heat-shock proteins are required for cytoophidium assembly in S. pombe. Temperature sensitivity of cytoophidia makes S. pombe an attractive model system for future investigations of this novel membraneless organelle.