bYeast cell wall integrity (CWI) signaling serves as a model of the regulation of fungal cell wall synthesis and provides the basis for the development of antifungal drugs. A set of five membrane-spanning sensors (Wsc1 to Wsc3, Mid2, and Mtl1) detect cell surface stress and commence the signaling pathway upon perturbations of either the cell wall structure or the plasma membrane. We here summarize the latest advances in the structure/function relationship primarily of the Wsc1 sensor and critically review the evidence that it acts as a mechanosensor. The relevance and physiological significance of the information obtained for the function of the other CWI sensors, as well as expected future developments, are discussed.

The cell wall integrity (CWI) pathway of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae relies on the detection of cell surface stress by five sensors (Wsc1, Wsc2, Wsc3, Mid2, Mtl1). Each sensor contains a single transmembrane domain and a highly mannosylated extracellular region, and probably detects mechanical stress in the cell wall or the plasma membrane. We here studied the distribution of the five sensors at the cell surface by using fluorescently tagged variants in conjunction with marker proteins for established membrane compartments. We find that each of the sensors occupies a specific microdomain at the plasma membrane. The novel punctate 'membrane compartment occupied by Wsc1' (MCW) shows moderate overlap with other Wsc-type sensors, but not with those of the Mid-type sensors or other established plasma membrane domains. We further observed that sensor density and formation of the MCW compartment depends on the cysteine-rich head group near the N-terminus of Wsc1. Yet, signalling capacity depends more on the sensor density in the plasma membrane than on clustering within its microcompartment. We propose that the MCW microcompartment provides a quality control mechanism for retaining functional sensors at the plasma membrane to prevent them from endocytosis.