Upon exposure to environmental stressors, cells transiently arrest the cell cycle while they adapt and restore homeostasis. A challenge for all cells is to distinguish between diverse stress signals and coordinate the appropriate adaptive response with cell cycle arrest. Here we investigate the role of the stress-activated phosphatase calcineurin (CN) in this process and show that CN utilizes multiple pathways to control the cell cycle. Upon activation, CN inhibits transcription factors (TFs) that regulate the G1/S transition through activation of the stress-activated MAPK Hog1. In contrast, CN inactivates G2/M TFs through a combination of Hog1-dependent and -independent mechanisms. These findings demonstrate that CN and Hog1 act in a coordinated manner at multiple nodes of the cell cycle-regulatory network to rewire gene expression and arrest cells in response to stress. Our results suggest that crosstalk between CN and stress-activated MAPKs helps cells tailor their adaptive responses to specific stressors.
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