Screening of Human Genes Specifically Inhibits Sporulation in Yeast Cells

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.