Haruto Nakajo, a second-year student in Applied Bioresource Science at the United Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences, together with a research group led by Professor Takayuki Sekito of the Graduate School of Agriculture (also affiliated with the Proteo Science Center), has revealed that the export of amino acids from vacuoles and their recycling into protein synthesis under starvation conditions are essential for the survival and sporulation of yeast. Autophagy, a starvation response common to eukaryotes, recycles amino acids generated by protein degradation in vacuoles, known as lysosomes in animal cells. Although this recycling process has long been considered important for survival under nutrient starvation conditions, its physiological significance had not been experimentally demonstrated.
The research group identified and analyzed amino acid transporters responsible for exporting amino acids from yeast vacuoles to the cytosol, and has now identified nearly all such vacuolar amino acid transporters. This achievement has made it possible to analyze the physiological functions of vacuolar amino acid transport. This study shows the physiological importance of amino acid export from vacuoles using a strain lacking these transporters. The findings were published online in Scientific Reports on March 5, 2026.
Publication Information
Journal: Scientific Reports
Title: Significance of amino acid recycling from vacuoles for viability and sporulation of yeast cells under starvation conditions
Citation: 2026 Mar 5; 16(1): 12243
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-026-42129-3
Authors: Haruto Nakajo # 1, Takayuki Sekito # 2 3, Ryogo Okamura 2, Shiori Nakagawa 4, Nodoka Hamada 4, Yusuke Yamamoto 2, Wakaba Yagi 2, Natsumi Ozaka 2, Takumi Kimura 4, Soshi Abe 4, Naoko Sugimoto 2, Koichi Akiyama 2 5, Miyuki Kawano-Kawada 2 3 5*
Affiliations
1 The United Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences, Ehime University, Matsuyama, Japan.
2 Department of Bioscience, Graduate School of Agriculture, Ehime University,
3 Division of Cell-Free Sciences, Proteo-Science Center (PROS), Ehime University
4 Department of Bioscience, Faculty of Agriculture, Ehime University
5 Advanced Research Support Center (ADRES), Ehime University
*Correspondence, #Contributed equally.
Reference Website
＜The United Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences＞