Interconversion of Yeast Mating Types II. Restoration of Mating Ability to Sterile Mutants in Homothallic and Heterothallic Strains

Hicks, J. B., Herskowitz, I. (March 1977) Interconversion of Yeast Mating Types II. Restoration of Mating Ability to Sterile Mutants in Homothallic and Heterothallic Strains. Genetics, 85 (3). pp. 373-93. ISSN 0016-6731 (Print)0016-6731 (Linking)

URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17248735

Abstract

The two mating types of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae can be interconverted in both homothallic and heterothallic strains. Previous work indicates that all yeast cells contain the information to be both a and alpha and that the HO gene (in homothallic strains) promotes a change in mating type by causing a change at the mating type locus itself. In both heterothallic and homothallic strains, a defective alpha mating type locus can be converted to a functional a locus and subsequently to a functional alpha locus. In contrast, action of the HO gene does not restore mating ability to a strain defective in another gene for mating which is not at the mating type locus. These observations indicate that a yeast cell contains an additional copy (or copies) of alpha information, and lead to the "cassette" model for mating type interconversion. In this model, HMa and hmalpha loci are blocs of unexpressed alpha regulatory information, and HMalpha and hma loci are blocs of unexpressed a regulatory information. These blocs are silent because they lack an essential site for expression, and become active upon insertion of this information (or a copy of the information) into the mating type locus by action of the HO gene.

Item Type: Paper
Subjects: bioinformatics > genomics and proteomics > genetics & nucleic acid processing > DNA, RNA structure, function, modification > genes, structure and function > gene expression
bioinformatics > genomics and proteomics > genetics & nucleic acid processing > DNA, RNA structure, function, modification > genes, structure and function > gene transfer
bioinformatics > genomics and proteomics > genetics & nucleic acid processing > DNA, RNA structure, function, modification > genes, structure and function
organism description > yeast
CSHL Authors:
Communities: CSHL labs > Hicks lab
Depositing User: Matt Covey
Date: March 1977
Date Deposited: 06 Feb 2014 17:25
Last Modified: 06 Feb 2014 17:25
PMCID: PMC1224574
Related URLs:
URI: https://repository.cshl.edu/id/eprint/29482

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