Our Big Question
Regulation of cell growth is crucial for the survival, development, and adaptation of all organisms. In every cell, key transitions in the cell cycle occur only after a certain threshold of growth has been achieved, ensuring that sufficient growth takes place during each phase of the cycle. This dependency of cell cycle progression on growth implies that cells have the ability to measure their growth. To achieve this, cells must translate growth-related events into a proportional signal that reflects the extent of growth. However, the mechanisms by which eukaryotic cells sense growth and coordinate it with cell cycle progression during development have remained deeply puzzling.
Our Background
Our work has revealed that lipid metabolism, particularly ceramides, plays a crucial role in orchestrating the coordination of cell growth with cell division both in fission and budding yeast.
Our group aims to address the long-standing central question of how cell growth is controlled. Our preliminary data suggest a connection between ceramide production and signaling pathways that controls cell wall synthesis, cell division and fungal pathogenesis.
This project seeks to address this knowledge gap by employing Schizosaccharomyces pombe and Ustilago maydis as model organisms. These species, belonging to Ascomycota and Basidiomycota divisions respectively, serve as versatile experimental tools and allow direct connections to clinically and agriculturally relevant fungi, since most pathogenic fungi belong to these two groups. The findings could open new opportunities for designing therapeutic strategies targeting ceramide-regulated pathways in resistant pathogenic fungi.
Our Projects
Deciphering the role of ceramide synthase in fungal growth, division and pathogenesis.
Ceramide synthases play a vital role in maintaining fungal plasma membrane integrity and function, influencing processes such as cell wall synthesis, growth, and division. Despite their importance, the molecular mechanisms linking ceramide biosynthesis to these processes remain poorly understood. This aim seeks to elucidate the role of ceramide synthases in fungal growth biology and pathogenesis through five interconnected tasks.
Exploring ceramide-dependent networks: from unbiased search to reasonable candidates.
How do growth-dependent signals control the cell cycle? Our work suggest that ceramides are a crucial link between cell growth and mitotic progression. In this task, we take one step further on discovering the molecular connection between ceramides and growth-dependent signals. First, we will use two comprehensive genetic screenings to get new insights into processes that can compensate for the loss of ceramide synthase activity. Next, we will test direct key candidates that are related to growth dependent signaling pathways.
A lipidomic approach to discover ceramide synthase functions in global lipid synthesis and cellular processes.
We intend to establish a global analysis of lipids in fission yeast. Lipids have been shown to interact in a highly specific manner with the transmembrane domains of proteins. Moreover, membrane lipids and transmembrane proteins seem to have undergone convergent evolution to meet the needs of each organism. Therefore, the cell requires strict control of its lipid composition and intracellular distribution in order to support membrane function or cell signaling
Our Publications
2025
• Quesada-Marquez JI, Serrano A, Alcaide-Gavilan M, Lucena R. «Uncoupling of nutrient sensing and cell size control by specific defects in ceramide structure»
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.28.691118v1. BIORXIV. Dec 2
2024
First person – Rafael Lucena
https://journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/137/24/jcs263769/364823/First-person-Rafael-Lucena
2024
• Lucena R, Jasani A, Anastasia A, Kellogg D, Alcaide-Gavilan M. “Casein kinase 1 controls components of a TORC2 signaling network in budding yeast.”. JOURNAL OF CELL SCIENCE. Dec. 137 (24): jcs262036.
2023
• Aguilera-Romero A, Lucena R, Sabido-Bozo S, Muñiz M “Impact of sphingolipids on protein membrane trafficking.”. BBA- Molecular and Cell Biology of Lipids. 2023 May 17;1868(8):159334. doi: 10.1016/j.bbalip.2023.159334
2022
• Kurt M. Schmoller, Michael C. Lanz, Jacob Kim, Mardo Koivomagi, Yimiao Qu, Chao Tang, Igor V. Kukhtevich, Robert Schneider, Fabian Rudolf, David M. Moreno, Mart. Aldea, Rafael Lucena and Jan M. Skotheim. “Whi5 is diluted and protein synthesis does not dramatically increase in pre-Start G1”. MOLECULAR BIOLOGY OF THE CELL. 2022 May 1;33(5):lt1. doi: 10.1091/mbc.E21-01-0029.
• Flor-Parra I, Sabido-Bozo S, Ikeda A, Hanaoka K, Funato K, Muñiz M, Lucena R*. “The ceramide synthase subunit Lac1 regulates cell growth and size in fission yeast”. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES. 2022, 23(1), 303. *Corresponding author.
• Manzano-Lopez J, Rodriguez-Gallardo S, Sabido-Bozo S, Cortes-Gomez A, Perez-Linero AM, Lucena R, Cordones-Romero A, Lopez S, Aguilera-Romero A, Muñiz M “Crosslinking assay to study a specific cargo-coat interaction through a transmembrane receptor in the secretory pathway”. PLOS ONE 2022 Feb 10;17(2):e0263617. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0263617.
2020
• Alcaide-Gavilan M, Lucena R, Banuelos S, and Kellogg DR. “Conserved Ark1-related kinases control TORC2 signaling”. MOLECULAR BIOLOGY OF THE CELL. Aug 15; 31(18): 2057-2069.
2018
• Alcaide-Gavilan M+, Lucena R+*, Schubert K, Artiles K, Zapata J, Kellogg DR*. “A conserved Lkb1 signaling axis modulates TORC2 signaling in budding yeast”. GENETICS Sep; 210 (1):155-170. +Co-first authors, *Corresponding authors.
• Flor-Parra I, Iglesias AB, Salas-Pino S, Lucena R., Jimenez J, Daga RR. “Virtual nuclear envelope breakdown controls spindle disassembly in fission yeast”. CELL REPORTS Apr 24; 23(4):933-41.
• Qiu C., Yi Y., Lucena R., Wu M., Sun J., Wang X., Jin Q., Wang Y. “F-Box proteins Pof3 and Pof1 regulate Wee1 degradation and mitotic entry in fission yeast”. JOURNAL OF CELL SCIENCE. Feb 2; 131(3)
• Lucena R*, Alcaide-Gavilan M*, Schubert K, He M, Domnauer M, Marquer C, Klose C, Surma MA, Kellogg DR. “Cell size and growth rate are modulated by TORC2-dependent signals”. CURRENT BIOLOGY. Jan 22;28(2) 196-210. *Co-first authors
2017
• Vadia S, Tse JL, Lucena R, Yang Z, Kellogg DR, Wang JD, Levin PA. “Fatty acid availability sets cell envelope capacity and dictates microbial cell size”. CURRENT BIOLOGY. Jun 19; 27(12): 1757- 1767.
• Lucena R*+, Alcaide-Gavilan M+, Anastasia SD, Kellogg DR. “Wee1 and Cdc25 are controlled by conserved PP2A-dependent mechanisms in fission yeast”. CELL CYCLE. Mar 4; 16(5): 428-435. +Co-first authors. *Corresponding author
2015
• Lucena R, Dephoure N, Gygi SP, Kellogg DR, Tallada VA, Daga RR, Jimenez J. “Nucleocytoplasmic transport in the midzone membrane domain controls yeast mitotic spindle disassembly”. THE JOURNAL OF CELL BIOLOGY. May 11; 209(3):387-402
2014
• Parnell EJ, Yu Y, Lucena R, Yoon Y, Bai L, Kellogg DR, Stillman DJ. “The Rts1 regulatory subunit of PP2A phosphatase controls expression of the HO endonuclease via localization of the Ace2 transcription factor”. THE JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY. Dec 19; 289(51):35431
2013
• McGrath DA, Balog ER, Koivomagi M, Lucena R, Mai MV, Hirschi A, Kellogg DR, Loog M, Rubin SM. “Cks confers specificity to phosphorylation-dependent CDK signaling pathways”. NATURE STRUCTURAL & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY. Dec; 20(12):1407-14
Our People
Rafael Lucena (Principal Investigator)
B.S. Biology (University of Seville)
PhD in Biotechnology (CABD, University Pablo de Olavide)
PostDoc in Molecular, Cell & Dev. Biology (University of California, Santa Cruz)
Ana María Serrano Caravaca (PhD, FPU 2024)
Isabel Castaño (Undergaduate student)
Isabel Silva (Undergraduate Student)
Former components
Nacho Quesada-Márquez (Master student)
Eugenia Cabezas Olmo (Undergraduate Student)
Andrea del Valle Zapata (undergraduate Student)
Our Contact Info
The lab is at the Department of Cell Biology, University of Seville. We are located on the 4th floor of the Green building in the Reina Mercedes Campus, Seville, Spain.
We are excited about new incorporations! If funding is not available, we could discuss some options.
email:
rlucena@us.es
Department of Cell Biology
School of Biology
University of Seville
Av Reina Mercedes 6
41012, Seville
SPAIN
Bluesky/Twitter:
@biologucho.bsky.social
@biologucho
The Lucena Lab 