Inositol and phosphate regulate GIT1 transcription and glycerophosphoinositol incorporation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Glycerophosphoinositol is produced through deacylation of the essential phospholipid phosphatidylinositol. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the glycerophosphoinositol produced is excreted from the cell but is recycled for phosphatidylinositol synthesis when inositol is limiting. To be recycled, glycerophosphoinositol enters the cell through the permease encoded by GIT1. The transport of exogenous glycerophosphoinositol through Git1p is sufficiently robust to support the growth of an inositol auxotroph (ino1Delta). We now report that S. cerevisiae also uses exogenous phosphatidylinositol as an inositol source. Evidence suggests that phosphatidylinositol is deacylated to glycerophosphoinositol extracellularly before being transported across the plasma membrane by Git1p. A genetic screen identified Pho86p, which is required for targeting of the major phosphate transporter (Pho84p) to the plasma membrane, as affecting the utilization of phosphatidylinositol and glycerophosphoinositol. Deletion of PHO86 in an ino1Delta strain resulted in faster growth when either phosphatidylinositol or glycerophosphoinositol was supplied as the sole inositol source. The incorporation of radiolabeled glycerophosphoinositol into an ino1Deltapho86Delta mutant was higher than that into wild-type, ino1Delta, and pho86Delta strains. All strains accumulated the most GIT1 transcript when incubated in media limited for inositol and phosphate in combination. However, the ino1Delta pho86Delta mutant accumulated approximately threefold more GIT1 transcript than did the other strains when incubated in inositol-free media containing either high or low concentrations of Pp Deletion of PHO4 abolished GIT1 transcription in a wild-type strain. These results indicate that the transport of glycerophosphoinositol by Git1p is regulated by factors affecting both inositol and phosphate availabilities and suggest a regulatory connection between phosphate metabolism and phospholipid metabolism.