Amino acids regulate the intracellular trafficking of the general amino acid permease of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The delivery to the plasma membrane of the general amino acid permease, Gap1p, of Saccharomyces cerevisiae is regulated by the quality of the nitrogen source in the growth medium. In an effort to define how different nitrogen sources control Gap1p sorting, we find that mutations in GDH1 and GLN1 that decrease the flux through the glutamate and glutamine synthesis pathways result in increased Gap1p sorting to the plasma membrane. Conversely, deletion of MKS1, which increases glutamate and glutamine synthesis, decreases Gap1p sorting to the plasma membrane. Glutamate and glutamine are not unusual in their ability to regulate Gap1p sorting, because the addition of all natural amino acids and many amino acid analogs to the growth medium results in increased Gap1p sorting to the vacuole. Importantly, amino acids have the capacity to signal Gap1p sorting to the vacuole regardless of whether they can be used as a source of nitrogen. Finally, we show that rapamycin does not affect Gap1p sorting, indicating that Gap1p sorting is not directly influenced by the TOR pathway. Together, these data show that amino acids are a signal for sorting Gap1p to the vacuole and imply that the nitrogen-regulated Gap1p sorting machinery responds to amino acid-like compounds rather than to the overall nutritional status associated with growth on a particular nitrogen source.