筛选特异性抑制酿酒酵母产孢的人类基因

Screening of Human Genes Specifically Inhibits Sporulation in Yeast Cells

摘要:

酿酒酵母（Saccharomyces cerevisiae）二倍体细胞在缺乏氮源且存在非发酵型碳源时，营养细胞停止生长，进入产孢过程并通过减数分裂形成单倍体孢子。产孢过程并不存在于哺乳动物细胞中，但该过程中发生的很多细胞活动在真核细胞中存在保守性。作者建立了一个筛选特异性抑制酿酒酵母产孢的人类基因的方法。在酿酒酵母中表达单独的人类基因，筛选得到抑制产孢过程但对酿酒酵母营养细胞生长不产生影响的候选人类基因。获得的候选基因很大可能涉及营养敏感性、减数分裂以及膜运输重组这些产孢过程中发生的细胞活动。本研究对新功能人类基因的发现以及将酿酒酵母作为遗传研究工具有着重要的意义。

Abstract:

In response to nutrient limitation，diploid cells of the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae undergo meiosis and form spores. Sporulation is a developmental process that do not happen in mammals. However，the process includes several biological events which are conserved in eukaryotic cells. This study developed a method to screen human genes which specifically inhibits yeast sporulation. In this screening，human genes are individually expressed in yeast cells and monitored their effects on sporulation. In the present study，49 genes has been examined. Among them，three genes strongly inhibited sporulation. Expression of these genes in yeast cells did not affect on the vegetative growth. Interestingly，one of them did not interfere with the meiotic progression very well，suggesting that it prevents the post-meiotic events in sporulation. These results demonstrate that our method can identify human genes which can antagonize yeast sporulation without compromising the vegetative growth. Such genes are possibly involved in sporulation specific events such as nutrient sensing，meiosis，and re-organization of membrane trafficking. Thus，this screening would be useful to find novel functions of human genes.