scholarly journals Residual cell division measurements are unreliable as indicators of the timing of events in the Saccharomyces cerevisiae cell cycle

1983 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 307-322
Author(s):  
K.M. Richmond ◽  
D.H. Williamson

We report here an analysis of the execution point of the temperature-sensitive Saccharomyces cerevisiae cell cycle mutant, cdc27-47. When a logarithmically growing culture was shifted from standard growth conditions (strain 27.8B growing in YEPD at 25 degrees C) to the restrictive temperature cell division ceased abruptly and reproducibly within one population doubling time, the extent of cell division indicating an execution point early in the cell cycle. Approximately 50% of stationary-phase cells were able to divide when refed with fresh medium at 37 degrees C, showing that the execution point could be passed before ‘start’. This makes the sharp cut-off in cell division difficult to explain. This difficulty was compounded by observations of the cell cycle stage at which individual cells acquired the capacity to divide at 37 degrees C. Half the cells that were budded at the time of a temperature shift-up formed three division-blocked cells, and in 11 of these 13 cases, two were descended from the original mother cell and one from the original bud. Thus, mother and daughter cells pass the execution point independently; daughters usually during G1, and mothers usually in the budded phase of the previous cycle. The sharp cut-off in cell division is therefore spurious, and a mechanism is proposed to account for it, which has implications for the interpretation of the execution points of other cdc mutants. In addition, the expression of the cdc27-47 execution point was modified by both genetic and environmental factors, being affected by carbon source, by the petite condition, and by genetic background. This illustrates the difficulties of interpreting execution point data and the dangers of extrapolation of cell cycle parameters between strains and growth conditions.

Genetics ◽  
1973 ◽  
Vol 74 (2) ◽  
pp. 267-286
Author(s):  
Leland H Hartwell ◽  
Robert K Mortimer ◽  
Joseph Culotti ◽  
Marilyn Culotti

ABSTRACT One hundred and forty-eight temperature-sensitive cell division cycle (cdc) mutants of Saccharomyces cerevisiae have been isolated and characterized. Complementation studies ordered these recessive mutations into 32 groups and tetrad analysis revealed that each of these groups defines a single nuclear gene. Fourteen of these genes have been located on the yeast genetic map. Functionally related cistrons are not tightly clustered. Mutations in different cistrons frequently produce different cellular and nuclear morphologies in the mutant cells following incubation at the restrictive temperature, but all the mutations in the same cistron produce essentially the same morphology. The products of these genes appear, therefore, each to function individually in a discrete step of the cell cycle and they define collectively a large number of different steps. The mutants were examined by time-lapse photomicroscopy to determine the number of cell cycles completed at the restrictive temperature before arrest. For most mutants, cells early in the cell cycle at the time of the temperature shift (before the execution point) arrest in the first cell cycle while those later in the cycle (after the execution point) arrest in the second cell cycle. Execution points for allelic mutations that exhibit first or second cycle arrest are rather similar and appear to be cistron-specific. Other mutants traverse several cycles before arrest, and its suggested that the latter type of response may reveal gene products that are temperature-sensitive for synthesis, whereas the former may be temperature-sensitive for function. The gene products that are defined by the cdc cistrons are essential for the completion of the cell cycle in haploids of a and α mating type and in a/α diploid cells. The same genes, therefore, control the cell cycle in each of these stages of the life cycle.


Genetics ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 134 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
T A Weinert ◽  
L H Hartwell

Abstract In eucaryotes a cell cycle control called a checkpoint ensures that mitosis occurs only after chromosomes are completely replicated and any damage is repaired. The function of this checkpoint in budding yeast requires the RAD9 gene. Here we examine the role of the RAD9 gene in the arrest of the 12 cell division cycle (cdc) mutants, temperature-sensitive lethal mutants that arrest in specific phases of the cell cycle at a restrictive temperature. We found that in four cdc mutants the cdc rad9 cells failed to arrest after a shift to the restrictive temperature, rather they continued cell division and died rapidly, whereas the cdc RAD cells arrested and remained viable. The cell cycle and genetic phenotypes of the 12 cdc RAD mutants indicate the function of the RAD9 checkpoint is phase-specific and signal-specific. First, the four cdc RAD mutants that required RAD9 each arrested in the late S/G2 phase after a shift to the restrictive temperature when DNA replication was complete or nearly complete, and second, each leaves DNA lesions when the CDC gene product is limiting for cell division. Three of the four CDC genes are known to encode DNA replication enzymes. We found that the RAD17 gene is also essential for the function of the RAD9 checkpoint because it is required for phase-specific arrest of the same four cdc mutants. We also show that both X- or UV-irradiated cells require the RAD9 and RAD17 genes for delay in the G2 phase. Together, these results indicate that the RAD9 checkpoint is apparently activated only by DNA lesions and arrests cell division only in the late S/G2 phase.


Genetics ◽  
1980 ◽  
Vol 96 (4) ◽  
pp. 859-876 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Schild ◽  
Breck Byers

ABSTRACT The meiotic effects of two cell-division-cycle mutations of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (cdc5 and cdc14) have been examined. These mutations were isolated by L. H. Hartwell and his colleagues and characterized as defective in mitosis, causing a temperature-sensitive arrest in late nuclear division. When subjected to the restrictive temperature in meiosis, diploid cells homozygous for either of these mutations generally proceeded through premeiotic DNA synthesis and commitment to meiotic levels of recombination, but then arrested at a stage following spindle pole body (SPB) duplication and separation. The two SPBs lacked the interconnection by spindle microtubules typical of the complete meiosis I spindle. Challenge of these homozygotes by a semi-restrictive temperature often caused the production of asci containing two diploid spores. Genetic analysis of the viable pairs of spores revealed that each spore had become homozygous for centromere-linked markers significantly more frequently than for distal markers, indicating that the two spores each contained pairs of sister centromeres that had co-segregated in the reductional division of meiosis I. Ultrastructural analysis of the cdc5 homozygote demonstrated that these cells had completed meiosis I and formed two meiosis II spindles, but that the latter remained unusually short. This resulted in the encapsulation of both poles of each spindle within a single spore wall. These mutations therefore are defective in both meiotic divisions, as well as in the mitotic division described originally.


1983 ◽  
Vol 3 (9) ◽  
pp. 1665-1669 ◽  
Author(s):  
M N Conrad ◽  
C S Newlon

DNA isolated from Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains carrying temperature-sensitive mutations in the CDC2 gene after incubation at the restrictive temperature contains multiple stably denatured regions 200 to 700 base pairs long. These regions are probably stabilized by a DNA-binding protein. They are found in both replicated and unreplicated portions of DNA molecules, suggesting that they are not an early stage in the initiation of DNA replication.


1993 ◽  
Vol 123 (2) ◽  
pp. 387-403 ◽  
Author(s):  
M T Brown ◽  
L Goetsch ◽  
L H Hartwell

The function of the essential MIF2 gene in the Saccharomyces cerevisiae cell cycle was examined by overepressing or creating a deficit of MIF2 gene product. When MIF2 was overexpressed, chromosomes missegregated during mitosis and cells accumulated in the G2 and M phases of the cell cycle. Temperature sensitive mutants isolated by in vitro mutagenesis delayed cell cycle progression when grown at the restrictive temperature, accumulated as large budded cells that had completed DNA replication but not chromosome segregation, and lost viability as they passed through mitosis. Mutant cells also showed increased levels of mitotic chromosome loss, supersensitivity to the microtubule destabilizing drug MBC, and morphologically aberrant spindles. mif2 mutant spindles arrested development immediately before anaphase spindle elongation, and then frequently broke apart into two disconnected short half spindles with misoriented spindle pole bodies. These findings indicate that MIF2 is required for structural integrity of the spindle during anaphase spindle elongation. The deduced Mif2 protein sequence shared no extensive homologies with previously identified proteins but did contain a short region of homology to a motif involved in binding AT rich DNA by the Drosophila D1 and mammalian HMGI chromosomal proteins.


1992 ◽  
Vol 3 (9) ◽  
pp. 1025-1035 ◽  
Author(s):  
K Madden ◽  
M Snyder

Many eucaryotic cell types exhibit polarized cell growth and polarized cell division at nonrandom sites. The sites of polarized growth were investigated in G1 arrested haploid Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells. When yeast cells are arrested during G1 either by treatment with alpha-factor or by shifting temperature-sensitive cdc28-1 cells to the restrictive temperature, the cells form a projection. Staining with Calcofluor reveals that in both cases the projection usually forms at axial sites (i.e., next to the previous bud scar); these are the same sites where bud formation is expected to occur. These results indicate that sites of polarized growth are specified before the end of G1. Sites of polarized growth can be influenced by external conditions. Cells grown to stationary phase and diluted into fresh medium preferentially select sites for polarized growth opposite the previous bud scar (i.e., distal sites). Incubation of cells in a mating mixture results in projection formation at nonaxial sites: presumably cells form projections toward their mating partner. These observations have important implications in understanding three aspects of cell polarity in yeast: 1) how yeast cell shape is influenced by growth conditions 2) how sites of polarized growth are chosen, and 3) the pathway by which polarity is affected and redirected during the mating process.


Genetics ◽  
1978 ◽  
Vol 90 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-68
Author(s):  
Yona Kassir ◽  
Giora Simchen

ABSTRACT Vegetative cells carrying the new temperature-sensitive mutation cdc40 arrest at the restrictive temperature with a medial nuclear division phenotype. DNA replication is observed under these conditions, but most cells remain sensitive to hydroxyurea and do not complete the ongoing cell cycle if the drug is present during release from the temperature block. It is suggested that the cdc40 lesion affects an essential function in DNA synthesis. Normal meiosis is observed at the permissive temperature in cdc40 homozygotes. At the restrictive temperature, a full round of premeiotic DNA replication is observed, but neither commitment to recombination nor later meiotic events occur. Meiotic cells that are already committed to the recombination process at the permissive temperature do not complete it if transferred to the restrictive temperature before recombination is realized. These temperature shift-up experiments demonstrate that the CDC40 function is required for the completion of recombination events, as well as for the earlier stage of recombination commitment. Temperature shift-down experiments with cdc40 homozygotes suggest that meiotic segregation depends on the final events of recombination rather than on commitment to recombination.


1982 ◽  
Vol 2 (9) ◽  
pp. 1052-1063
Author(s):  
J R Shuster

Temperature-sensitive mutants which arrest in the G1 phase of the cell cycle have been described for the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. One class of these mutants (carrying cdc28, cdc36, cdc37, or cdc39) forms a shmoo morphology at restrictive temperature, characteristic of mating pheromone-arrested wild-type cells. Therefore, one hypothesis to explain the control of cell division by mating factors states that mating pheromones arrest wild-type cells by inactivating one or more of these CDC gene products. A class of mutants (carrying ste4, ste5, ste7, ste11, or ste12) which is insensitive to mating pheromone and sterile has also been described. One possible function of the STE gene products is the inactivation of the CDC gene products in the presence of a mating pheromone. A model incorporating these two hypotheses predicts that such STE gene products will not be required for mating in strains carrying an appropriate cdc lesion. This prediction was tested by assaying the mating abilities of double mutants for all of the pairwise combinations of cdc and ste mutations. Lesions in either cdc36 or cdc39 suppressed the mating defect due to ste4 and ste5. Allele specificity was observed in the suppression of both ste4 and ste5. The results indicate that the CDC36, CDC39, STE4, and STE5 gene products interact functionally or physically or both in the regulation of cell division mediated by the presence or absence of mating pheromones. The cdc36 and cdc39 mutations did not suppress ste7, ste11, or ste12. Lesions in cdc28 or cdc37 did not suppress any of the ste mutations. Other models of CDC and STE gene action which predicted that some of the cdc and ste mutations would be alleles of the same locus were tested. None of the cdc mutations was allelic to the ste mutations and, therefore, these models were eliminated.


1990 ◽  
Vol 111 (1) ◽  
pp. 131-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
A E Adams ◽  
D I Johnson ◽  
R M Longnecker ◽  
B F Sloat ◽  
J R Pringle

Budding in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae involves a polarized deposition of new cell surface material that is associated with a highly asymmetric disposition of the actin cytoskeleton. Mutants defective in gene CDC24, which are unable to bud or establish cell polarity, have been of great interest with regard to both the mechanisms of cellular morphogenesis and the mechanisms that coordinate cell-cycle events. To gain further insights into these problems, we sought additional mutants with defects in budding. We report here that temperature-sensitive mutants defective in genes CDC42 and CDC43, like cdc24 mutants, fail to bud but continue growth at restrictive temperature, and thus arrest as large unbudded cells. Nearly all of the arrested cells appear to begin nuclear cycles (as judged by the occurrence of DNA replication and the formation and elongation of mitotic spindles), and many go on to complete nuclear division, supporting the hypothesis that the events associated with budding and those of the nuclear cycle represent two independent pathways within the cell cycle. The arrested mutant cells display delocalized cell-surface deposition associated with a loss of asymmetry of the actin cytoskeleton. CDC42 maps distal to the rDNA on chromosome XII and CDC43 maps near lys5 on chromosome VII.


1977 ◽  
Vol 75 (2) ◽  
pp. 422-435 ◽  
Author(s):  
L H Hartwell ◽  
M W Unger

The budding yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, was grown exponentially at different rates in the presence of growth rate-limiting concentrations of a protein synthesis inhibitor, cycloheximide. The volumes of the parent cell and the bud were determined as were the intervals of the cell cycle devoted to the unbudded and budded periods. We found that S. cerevisiae cells divide unequally. The daughter cell (the cell produced at division by the bud of the previous cycle) is smaller and has a longer subsequent cell cycle than the parent cell which produced it. During the budded period most of the volume increase occurs in the bud and very little in the parent cell, while during the unbudded period both the daughter and the parent cell increase significantly in volume. The length of the budded interval of the cell cycle varies little as a function of population doubling time; the unbudded interval of the parent cell varies moderately; and the unbudded interval for the daughter cell varies greatly (in the latter case an increase of 100 min in population doubling time results in an increase of 124 min in the daughter cell's unbudded interval). All of the increase in the unbudded period occurs in that interval of G1 that precedes the point of cell cycle arrest by the S. cerevisiae alpha-mating factor. These results are qualitatively consistent with and support the model for the coordination of growth and division (Johnston, G. C., J. R. Pringle, and L. H. Hartwell. 1977. Exp. Cell. Res. 105:79-98.) This model states that growth and not the events of the DNA division cycle are rate limiting for cellular proliferation and that the attainment of a critical cell size is a necessary prerequisite for the "start" event in the DNA-division cycle, the event that requires the cdc 28 gene product, is inhibited by mating factor and results in duplication of the spindle pole body.


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