Isolation and characterisation of guanine auxotrophs in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Mutants of yeast which are auxotrophic for guanine have been isolated from two prototrophic haploid strains, one of which carried the suppressor of purine excretion, su-pur, and the other carried the alternative allele, su-pur+. The mutants were allocated to three genes, gua1, gua2, and gua3, between which no close linkage was demonstrable. Mutants of all three genes were recessive and showed normal Mendelian segregation in crosses. The gene gua1 was shown by an in vivo enzyme assay procedure to specify guanosine 5′-phosphate (GMP) synthetase, the second enzyme involved in the biosynthesis of GMP from inosine 5′-phosphate (IMP). Mutants of this gene excrete large amounts of purine derivatives, predominantly xanthosine, into guanine-free, but not into guanine-supplemented, medium. The gene gua2 is probably involved in the biosynthesis of riboflavin from guanine nucleotides; the phenotype of these mutants suggests a possible interaction between aromatic amino acid metabolism and riboflavin biosynthesis. No role for gua3 can be assigned on the evidence so far available, but it is not involved in the specification of IMP dehydrogenase, the first enzyme involved in the synthesis of GMP and IMP.