Autophagy-deficient budding yeast cells are sensitive to freeze-thaw stress.

Abstract

Autophagy enables eukaryotes to recycle damaged and unneeded materials to ensure survival in times of stress such as starvation. However, the full range of cellular stress responses that activate and require autophagy remains unknown. This study has compared the survival of wild type, atg1Δ, and atg5Δ budding yeast cells following freeze-thaw stress. The results indicate that cells deficient in autophagy exhibit enhanced sensitivity to freeze-thaw stress.