UC Berkeley

Cellular stress responses often require transcription-based activation of gene expression to promote cellular adaptation. Whether general mechanisms exist for stress-responsive gene downregulation is less clear. A recently defined mechanism enables both up- and downregulation of protein levels for distinct gene sets by the same transcription factor via coordinated induction of canonical mRNAs and long undecoded transcript isoforms (LUTIs). We analyzed parallel gene expression datasets to determine whether this mechanism contributes to the conserved Hac1-driven branch of the unfolded protein response (UPR^ER), indeed observing Hac1-dependent protein downregulation accompanying the upregulation of ER-related proteins that typifies UPR^ER activation. Proteins downregulated by Hac1-driven LUTIs include those with electron transport chain (ETC) function. Abrogated ETC function improves the fitness of UPR^ER-activated cells, suggesting functional importance to this regulation. We conclude that the UPR^ER drives large-scale proteome remodeling, including coordinated up- and downregulation of distinct protein classes, which is partly mediated by Hac1-induced LUTIs.