An apoptotic cell cycle mutant in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The simple eukaryote Saccharomyces cerevisiae has proved to be a useful organism for elucidating the mechanisms that govern cell cycle progression in eukaryotic cells. The excellent in vivo system permits a cell cycle study using temperature sensitive mutants. In addition, it is possible to study many genes and gene products from higher eukaryotes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae because many genes and biological processes are homologous or similar in lower and in higher eukaryotes.

The highly developed methods of genetics and molecular biology greatly facilitates studies of higher eukaryotic processes.Programmmed cell death with apoptosis plays a major role in development and homeostatis in most, if not all, animal cells. Apoptosis is a morphologically distinct form of death, that requires the activation of a highly regulated suicide program.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae provides a new system in which apoptosis can be studied using the novel, temperature sensitive mutant, cdc77. The cdc77 cells are defective in a G1 process, and die show the characteristc signs of apoptosis: condensation of the chromatin, degradation of the inner nuclear membrane, dilation of the space between the nuclear membranes, condensation of the cytoplasm and degradation of DNA to 50kb fragmensts.

It should be noted that in yeast, in contrast to higher eukaryotes, the nuclear membrane remain intact and the chromosomes remain uncondensed and invisible during mitosis. The cdc77 mutant exhibit a defect in initiation of DNA synthesis and a much prolonged DNA synthesis under semirestrictive conditions.