Vacuole membrane contact sites regulate liquid-ordered domain formation during glucose starvation

Liquid-ordered (Lo) membrane domains have been proposed to play important roles in a wide variety of biological processes, such as protein sorting and cell signaling. However, the mechanisms by which they are formed and maintained remain poorly understood. Lo domains are formed in the vacuolar membrane of yeast in response to glucose starvation. Here, we show that the deletion of proteins that localize to vacuole membrane contact sites (MCSs) caused a marked decrease in the number of cells with Lo domains. In addition to Lo domain formation, autophagy is induced upon glucose starvation. However, the deletion of core autophagy proteins did not inhibit Lo domain formation. Thus, we propose that vacuolar Lo domain formation during glucose restriction is regulated by MCSs but not by autophagy.