Functional analyses of the extra- and intracellular domains of the yeast cell wall integrity sensors Mid2 and Wsc1

Cell wall integrity signalling in Saccharomyces cerevisiae provides a model for the regulation of fungal wall biosynthesis. Chimers of the major plasma membrane sensors Wsc1 and Mid2 fused to GFP have been employed to show that intracellular and membrane distribution is only dependent on a membrane-anchored cytoplasmic tail. Phenotypic analyses of chimeric sensors in an isogenic Δmid2 Δwsc1 double deletion strain indicate that this tail, provided that it is linked to an extracellular domain, also determines the cellular response to different surface stresses to a large extent.