scholarly journals ASSOCIATION OF DISOMIC CHROMOSOME LOSS WITH EMS-INDUCED CONVERSION IN YEAST

Genetics ◽  
1980 ◽  
Vol 96 (3) ◽  
pp. 613-625
Author(s):  
Douglas Campbell

ABSTRACT Experimental tests with the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae of a previously proposed model suggesting a causal relationship between disomic chromosome loss (n + 1 → n) and centromere-adjacent mitotic gene conversion were performed. Disomic haploid cells heteroallelic at two loci on the left arm of chromosome III were exposed to ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS) under nonlethal conditions; EMS-induced prototrophic gene convertants were selected and tested for coincident chromosome loss. The principal results are: (1) The frequency of chromosome loss among EMS-induced gene convertants selected to arise near the centromere is markedly enhanced over basal levels and remains constant, independent of EMS exposure. There is little such enhancement among EMS-induced convertants selected to arise far from the centromere. (2) Chromosome loss is almost completely associated with induced conversion of the centromere-proximal allele at the centromere-adjacent heteroallelic locus. This result is identical to (and confirms) results found previously for spontaneous loss-associated conversion. (3) The conversion polarity at the centromere-adjacent locus among unselected (nonloss-associated) induced or spontaneous mitotic convertants is identical to that among meiotic convertants and markedly favors the contromere-distal allele. These findings are wholly consistent with, and strengthen, the hypothesis that structural involvement of centromeric regions in nearby recombinational events may interfere with proper segregational function and lead to mitotic chromosome loss.

Genetics ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 123 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
E J Louis ◽  
J E Haber

Abstract The presence of the tRNA ochre suppressors SUP11 and SUP5 is found to induce meiosis I nondisjunction in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The induction increases with increasing dosage of the suppressor and decreases in the presence of an antisuppressor. The effect is independent of the chromosomal location of SUP11. Each of five different chromosomes monitored exhibited nondisjunction at frequencies of 0.1%-1.1% of random spores, which is a 16-160-fold increase over wild-type levels. Increased nondisjunction is reflected by a marked increase in tetrads with two and zero viable spores. In the case of chromosome III, for which a 50-cM map interval was monitored, the resulting disomes are all in the parental nonrecombinant configuration. Recombination along chromosome III appears normal both in meioses that have no nondisjunction and in meioses for which there was nondisjunction of another chromosome. We propose that a proportion of one or more proteins involved in chromosome pairing, recombination or segregation are aberrant due to translational read-through of the normal ochre stop codon. Hygromycin B, an antibiotic that can suppress nonsense mutations via translational read-through, also induces nonrecombinant meiosis I nondisjunction. Increases in mistranslation, therefore, increase the production of aneuploids during meiosis. There was no observable effect of SUP11 on mitotic chromosome nondisjunction; however some disomes caused SUP11 ade2-ochre strains to appear white or red, instead of pink.


1990 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 2458-2467 ◽  
Author(s):  
R E Baker ◽  
D C Masison

CP1 is a sequence-specific DNA-binding protein of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae which recognizes the highly conserved DNA element I (CDEI) of yeast centromeres. We cloned and sequenced the gene encoding CP1. The gene codes for a protein of molecular weight 39,400. When expressed in Escherichia coli, the CP1 gene directed the synthesis of a CDEI-binding protein having the same gel mobility as purified yeast CP1. We have given the CP1 gene the genetic designation CEP1 (centromere protein 1). CEP1 was mapped and found to reside on chromosome X, 2.0 centimorgans from SUP4. Strains were constructed in which most of CEP1 was deleted. Such strains lacked detectable CP1 activity and were viable; however, CEP1 gene disruption resulted in a 35% increase in cell doubling time and a ninefold increase in the rate of mitotic chromosome loss. An unexpected consequence of CP1 gene disruption was methionine auxotrophy genetically linked to cep1. This result and the recent finding that CDEI sites in the MET25 promoter are required to activate transcription (D. Thomas, H. Cherest, and Y. Surdin-Kerjan, J. Mol. Biol. 9:3292-3298, 1989) suggest that CP1 is both a kinetochore protein and a transcription factor.


1990 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 2458-2467
Author(s):  
R E Baker ◽  
D C Masison

CP1 is a sequence-specific DNA-binding protein of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae which recognizes the highly conserved DNA element I (CDEI) of yeast centromeres. We cloned and sequenced the gene encoding CP1. The gene codes for a protein of molecular weight 39,400. When expressed in Escherichia coli, the CP1 gene directed the synthesis of a CDEI-binding protein having the same gel mobility as purified yeast CP1. We have given the CP1 gene the genetic designation CEP1 (centromere protein 1). CEP1 was mapped and found to reside on chromosome X, 2.0 centimorgans from SUP4. Strains were constructed in which most of CEP1 was deleted. Such strains lacked detectable CP1 activity and were viable; however, CEP1 gene disruption resulted in a 35% increase in cell doubling time and a ninefold increase in the rate of mitotic chromosome loss. An unexpected consequence of CP1 gene disruption was methionine auxotrophy genetically linked to cep1. This result and the recent finding that CDEI sites in the MET25 promoter are required to activate transcription (D. Thomas, H. Cherest, and Y. Surdin-Kerjan, J. Mol. Biol. 9:3292-3298, 1989) suggest that CP1 is both a kinetochore protein and a transcription factor.


1989 ◽  
Vol 224 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
S.G. Whittaker ◽  
F.K. Zimmermann ◽  
B. Dicus ◽  
W.W. Piegorsch ◽  
S. Fogel ◽  
...  

1991 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 5212-5221
Author(s):  
B Jehn ◽  
R Niedenthal ◽  
J H Hegemann

In the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the complete information needed in cis to specify a fully functional mitotic and meiotic centromere is contained within 120 bp arranged in the three conserved centromeric (CEN) DNA elements CDEI, -II, and -III. The 25-bp CDEIII is most important for faithful chromosome segregation. We have constructed single- and double-base substitutions in all highly conserved residues and one nonconserved residue of this element and analyzed the mitotic in vivo function of the mutated CEN DNAs, using an artificial chromosome. The effects of the mutations on chromosome segregation vary between wild-type-like activity (chromosome loss rate of 4.8 x 10(-4)) and a complete loss of CEN function. Data obtained by saturation mutagenesis of the palindromic core sequence suggest asymmetric involvement of the palindromic half-sites in mitotic CEN function. The poor CEN activity of certain single mutations could be improved by introducing an additional single mutation. These second-site suppressors can be found at conserved and nonconserved positions in CDEIII. Our suppression data are discussed in the context of natural CDEIII sequence variations found in the CEN sequences of different yeast chromosomes.


1991 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 2919-2928
Author(s):  
K W Runge ◽  
R J Wellinger ◽  
V A Zakian

The linear chromosomes of eukaryotes contain specialized structures to ensure their faithful replication and segregation to daughter cells. Two of these structures, centromeres and telomeres, are limited, respectively, to one and two copies per chromosome. It is possible that the proteins that interact with centromere and telomere DNA sequences are present in limiting amounts and could be competed away from the chromosomal copies of these elements by additional copies introduced on plasmids. We have introduced excess centromeres and telomeres into Saccharomyces cerevisiae and quantitated their effects on the rates of loss of chromosome III and chromosome VII by fluctuation analysis. We show that (i) 600 new telomeres have no effect on chromosome loss; (ii) an average of 25 extra centromere DNA sequences increase the rate of chromosome III loss from 0.4 x 10(-4) events per cell division to 1.3 x 10(-3) events per cell division; (iii) centromere DNA (CEN) sequences on circular vectors destabilize chromosomes more effectively than do CEN sequences on 15-kb linear vectors, and transcribed CEN sequences have no effect on chromosome stability. We discuss the different effects of extra centromere and telomere DNA sequences on chromosome stability in terms of how the cell recognizes these two chromosomal structures.


1988 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. 2523-2535
Author(s):  
J H Hegemann ◽  
J H Shero ◽  
G Cottarel ◽  
P Philippsen ◽  
P Hieter

Saccharomyces cerevisiae centromeres have a characteristic 120-base-pair region consisting of three distinct centromere DNA sequence elements (CDEI, CDEII, and CDEIII). We have generated a series of 26 CEN mutations in vitro (including 22 point mutations, 3 insertions, and 1 deletion) and tested their effects on mitotic chromosome segregation by using a new vector system. The yeast transformation vector pYCF5 was constructed to introduce wild-type and mutant CEN DNAs onto large, linear chromosome fragments which are mitotically stable and nonessential. Six point mutations in CDEI show increased rates of chromosome loss events per cell division of 2- to 10-fold. Twenty mutations in CDEIII exhibit chromosome loss rates that vary from wild type (10(-4)) to nonfunctional (greater than 10(-1)). These results directly identify nucleotides within CDEI and CDEIII that are required for the specification of a functional centromere and show that the degree of conservation of an individual base does not necessarily reflect its importance in mitotic CEN function.


1987 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
A Gaudet ◽  
M Fitzgerald-Hayes

Centromere DNA from 11 of the 16 chromosomes of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae have been analyzed and reveal three sequence elements common to each centromere, referred to as conserved centromere DNA elements (CDE). The adenine-plus-thymine (A + T)-rich central core element, CDE II, is flanked by two short conserved sequences, CDE I (8 base pairs [bp]) and CDE III (25 bp). Although no consensus sequence exists among the different CDE II regions, they do have three common features of sequence organization. First, the CDE II regions are similar in length, ranging from 78 to 86 bp measured from CDE I to the left boundary of CDE III. Second, the base composition is always greater than 90% A + T. Finally, the A and T residues in these segments are often arranged in runs of A and runs of T residues, sometimes with six or seven bases in a stretch. We constructed insertion, deletion, and replacement mutations in the CDE II region of the centromere from chromosome III, CEN3, designed to investigate the length and sequence requirements for function of the CDE II region of the centromere. We analyzed the effect of these altered centromeres on plasmid and chromosome segregation in S. cerevisiae. Our results show that increasing the length of CDE II from 84 to 154 bp causes a 100-fold increase in chromosome nondisjunction. Deletion mutations removing segments of the A + T-rich CDE II DNA also cause aberrant segregation. In some cases partial function could be restored by replacing the deleted DNA with fragments whose primary sequence or base composition is very different from that of the wild-type CDE II DNA. In addition, we found that identical mutations introduced into different positions in CDE II have very similar effects.


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