Mr. Jorge Martinez presented research on how yeast cells undergo endocytosis and autophagy in response to glucose availability. The seminar discussed how protein adaptors called arrestins help glucose pass into yeast cells under normal glucose conditions, but the arrestins have nowhere to adhere and the cells begin digesting themselves when glucose is lacking. Experiments with yeast groups that had sufficient or limited glucose access for two hours confirmed that environmental cues like glucose availability affect autophagy processes in the cells. The research contributes to understanding how cellular glucose levels impact diverse biological functions.

1. Nicole S. Rivera ESpinal fecha: 12/11/2014
#:13
3Rd Seminar October 23, 2014 Mr. Jorge Martinez : The Role of Arrestins in Glucose
Starvation-induced Protein Endocytosis
This seminar presents the idea of using Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a species of yeast cell to study the
glucose traffic. Mr. Martinez pointed out how these cells undergo the process of endocytosis, which is
an energy-using mechanism where cells consume molecules. He noticed that when these cells receive a
large amount of glucose nothing happened, but if they lack glucose then they begin to auto digest. This
process is known as autophagy. He also mentioned that the protein adaptors called arrestin adapt to the
membrane so glucose can pass. When these adaptors lack glucose, they do not have where to adhere
and the vacuole starts to eat itself. They could confirm this behavior by working with two experimental
groups that had sufficient glucose and two control groups that had limited access to glucose for 2 hours.
Following the pathways using green fluorescent protein, they conclude that the environmental cue
process affects autophagy and lifetime between cells. This research is very important because cellular
glucose availability is crucial for the functioning of diverse biological processes.