Phenotypic expression of primary lesions of genetic material in Saccharomyces yeasts

Genome ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 497-502 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergey G. Inge-Vechtomov ◽  
Marina V. Repnevskaya

"Illegitmate" mating of yeasts (α × α), either spontaneous or induced by uv light or ethyl methanesulfanate, in a selective system for "cytoduction" revealed that about 95% of cytoductants expressed their original (α) mating type. Inducing the mating by treating the recipient of cytoplasm with uv light reached two orders of magnitude. An additional copy of MATα in the α recipient almost completely eliminated the effect, which means that nonheritable mating type changes observed are formally recessive and are localized within MATα complex. About 1% of cytoductants obtained were nonmating types and some of them were identified as matα1 mutants. Rad18 mutant as a recipient showed a considerably elevated spontaneous frequency of illegitimate hybridization and cytoduction. The cytoductants also preserved the original mating type. These facts suggest that nonheritable changes of mating type are due to repairable primary (premutational) lesions in MATα genetic material. The significance of these results for understanding the mechanism of nonheritable variability is discussed.Key words: mating type, nonheritable changes, primary lesions, premutational events, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, repair.

Genetics ◽  
1980 ◽  
Vol 96 (2) ◽  
pp. 315-320
Author(s):  
Amar J S Klar ◽  
Jean McIndoo ◽  
James B Hicks ◽  
Jeffrey N Strathern

ABSTRACT The HML and HMR loci carry unexpressed copies of MAT  a and MATα information, and a replica of that information is transposed to MAT during mating-type interchange in Saccharomyces yeasts. A negative control mechanism keeps silent the information located at the HML and HMR loci. We mapped these loci by constructing strains in which these loci are expressed. In these strains, the mating type of the segregants is dependent upon the allele at HML and HMR. This novel approach is independent of their switching function. HML is located on the left arm of chromosome III distal to his4 by about 26.8 centimorgans (cM). HMR maps on the right arm of the same chromosome distal to thr4 by about 39.8 cM and proximal to MAL2 by about 1.0 cM. The results allow the exact placement of these loci and are in accord with the observations made by Harashima and Oshima (1976).


Genetics ◽  
1978 ◽  
Vol 89 (4) ◽  
pp. 653-665
Author(s):  
Arjun Singh ◽  
Fred Sherman

ABSTRACT Some of the deletions in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae that encompass the CYC1 gene, which determines iso-1-cytochrome c, extend into the OSM1 gene, causing inhibition of growth on hypertonic media, and into the RAD7 gene, causing sensitivity to UV light. Two deletions (cyc1-363 and cyc1-367) encompass only the CYC1 gene, two deletions (cyc1-366 and cyc1-368) encompass the CYC1 and OSM1 genes, three deletions (cyc1-1, cyc1-364 and cyc1-365) encompass the CYC1, OSM1 and RAD7 genes, while none of the deletions extend into the closely linked SUP4 gene.


1986 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 688-702 ◽  
Author(s):  
J M Ivy ◽  
A J Klar ◽  
J B Hicks

Mating type in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is determined by the MAT (a or alpha) locus. HML and HMR, which usually contain copies of alpha and a mating type information, respectively, serve as donors in mating type interconversion and are under negative transcriptional control. Four trans-acting SIR (silent information regulator) loci are required for repression of transcription. A defect in any SIR gene results in expression of both HML and HMR. The four SIR genes were isolated from a genomic library by complementation of sir mutations in vivo. DNA blot analysis suggests that the four SIR genes share no sequence homology. RNA blots indicate that SIR2, SIR3, and SIR4 each encode one transcript and that SIR1 encodes two transcripts. Null mutations, made by replacement of the normal genomic allele with deletion-insertion mutations created in the cloned SIR genes, have a Sir- phenotype and are viable. Using the cloned genes, we showed that SIR3 at a high copy number is able to suppress mutations of SIR4. RNA blot analysis suggests that this suppression is not due to transcriptional regulation of SIR3 by SIR4; nor does any SIR4 gene transcriptionally regulate another SIR gene. Interestingly, a truncated SIR4 gene disrupts regulation of the silent mating type loci. We propose that interaction of at least the SIR3 and SIR4 gene products is involved in regulation of the silent mating type genes.


1981 ◽  
Vol 1 (10) ◽  
pp. 958-960 ◽  
Author(s):  
J Rine ◽  
G F Sprague ◽  
I Herskowitz

Sporulation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae normally occurs only in MATa/MAT alpha diploids. We show that mutations in RME1 bypassed the requirements for both a and alpha mating type information in sporulation and therefore allowed MATa/MATa and MAT alpha/MAT alpha diploids to sporulate. RME1 was located on chromosome VII, between LEU1 and ADE6.


1990 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 409-412 ◽  
Author(s):  
G P Livi ◽  
J B Hicks ◽  
A J Klar

The silent mating-type genes (HML and HMR) of Saccharomyces cerevisiae are kept under negative transcriptional control by the trans-acting products of the four MAR/SIR loci. MAR/SIR gene mutations result in the simultaneous derepression of HML and HMR gene expression. The sum1-1 mutation was previously identified as an extragenic suppressor of mutations in MAR1 (SIR2) and MAR2 (SIR3). As assayed genetically, sum1-1 is capable of restoring repression of silent mating-type information in cells containing mar1 or mar2 null mutations. We show here that the mating-type phenotype associated with sum1-1 results from a dramatic reduction in the steady-state level of HML and HMR gene transcripts. At the same time, the sum1-1 mutation has no significant effect on the level of each of the four MAR/SIR mRNAs.


1981 ◽  
Vol 1 (6) ◽  
pp. 522-534
Author(s):  
B Weiffenbach ◽  
J E Haber

In homothallic cells of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a or alpha mating type information at the mating type locus (MAT) is replaced by the transposition of the opposite mating type allele from HML alpha or HMRa. The rad52-1 mutation, which reduces mitotic and abolishes meiotic recombination, also affects homothallic switching (Malone and Esposito, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 77:503-507, 1980). We have found that both HO rad52 MATa and HO rad52 MAT alpha cells die. This lethality is suppressed by mutations that substantially reduce but do not eliminate homothallic conversions. These mutations map at or near the MAT locus (MAT alpha inc, MATa-inc, MATa stk1) or are unlinked to MAT (HO-1 and swi1). These results suggest that the switching event itself is involved in the lethality. With the exception of swi1, HO rad52 strains carrying one of the above mutations cannot convert mating type at all. MAT alpha rad52 HO swi1 strains apparently can switch MAT alpha to MATa. However, when we analyzed these a maters, we found that few, if any, of them were bona fide MATa cells. These a-like cells were instead either deleted for part of chromosome III distal to and including MAT or had lost the entire third chromosome. Approximately 30% of the time, an a-like cell could be repaired to a normal MATa genotype if the cell was mated to a RAD52 MAT alpha-inc strain. The effects of rad52 were also studied in mata/MAT alpha-inc rad52/rad52 ho/HO diploids. When this diploid attempted to switch mata to MATa, an unstable broken chromosome was generated in nearly every cell. These studies suggest that homothallic switching involves the formation of a double-stranded deoxyribonucleic acid break or a structure which is labile in rad52 cells and results in a broken chromosome. We propose that the production of a double-stranded deoxyribonucleic acid break is the lethal event in rad52 HO cells.


1989 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 4621-4630
Author(s):  
D J Mahoney ◽  
J R Broach

Mating-type genes resident in the silent cassette HML at the left arm of chromosome III are repressed by the action of four SIR gene products, most likely mediated through two cis-acting sites located on opposite sides of the locus. We showed that deletion of either of these two cis-acting sites from the chromosome did not yield any detectable derepression of HML, while deletion of both sites yielded full expression of the locus. In addition, each of these sites was capable of exerting repression of heterologous genes inserted in their vicinity. Thus, HML expression is regulated by two independent silencers, each fully competent for maintaining repression. This situation was distinct from the organization of the other silent locus, HMR, at which a single silencer served as the predominant repressor of expression. Examination of identifiable domains and binding sites within the HML silencers suggested that silencing activity can be achieved by a variety of combinations of various functional domains.


1994 ◽  
Vol 14 (9) ◽  
pp. 6135-6142
Author(s):  
R Verhage ◽  
A M Zeeman ◽  
N de Groot ◽  
F Gleig ◽  
D D Bang ◽  
...  

The rad16 mutant of Saccharomyces cerevisiae was previously shown to be impaired in removal of UV-induced pyrimidine dimers from the silent mating-type loci (D. D. Bang, R. A. Verhage, N. Goosen, J. Brouwer, and P. van de Putte, Nucleic Acids Res. 20:3925-3931, 1992). Here we show that rad7 as well as rad7 rad16 double mutants have the same repair phenotype, indicating that the RAD7 and RAD16 gene products might operate in the same nucleotide excision repair subpathway. Dimer removal from the genome overall is essentially incomplete in these mutants, leaving about 20 to 30% of the DNA unrepaired. Repair analysis of the transcribed RPB2 gene shows that the nontranscribed strand is not repaired at all in rad7 and rad16 mutants, whereas the transcribed strand is repaired in these mutants at a fast rate similar to that in RAD+ cells. When the results obtained with the RPB2 gene can be generalized, the RAD7 and RAD16 proteins not only are essential for repair of silenced regions but also function in repair of nontranscribed strands of active genes in S. cerevisiae. The phenotype of rad7 and rad16 mutants closely resembles that of human xeroderma pigmentosum complementation group C (XP-C) cells, suggesting that RAD7 and RAD16 in S. cerevisiae function in the same pathway as the XPC gene in human cells. RAD4, which on the basis of sequence homology has been proposed to be the yeast XPC counterpart, seems to be involved in repair of both inactive and active yeast DNA, challenging the hypothesis that RAD4 and XPC are functional homologs.


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