ABSTRACT
In a systematic approach to the study of Saccharomyces cerevisiae genes of unknown function, 150 deletion mutants were constructed (1 double, 149 single mutants) and phenotypically analysed. Twenty percent of all genes examined were essential. The viable deletion mutants were subjected to 20 different test systems, ranging from high throughput to highly specific test systems. Phenotypes were obtained for two-thirds of the mutants tested. During the course of this investigation, mutants for 26 of the genes were described by others. For 18 of these the reported data were in accordance with our results. Surprisingly, for seven genes, additional, unexpected phenotypes were found in our tests. This suggests that the type of analysis presented here provides a more complete description of gene function.
Subject(s)
Mutation , Saccharomyces cerevisiae/genetics , Sequence Deletion , Cell Differentiation , Chromosomes, Fungal , Genes, Fungal , Glycoside Hydrolases/metabolism , Glycosylation , Saccharomyces cerevisiae/cytology , Saccharomyces cerevisiae/growth & development , Signal Transduction , beta-FructofuranosidaseABSTRACT
The collaboration of more than 600 scientists from over 100 laboratories to sequence the Saccharomyces cerevisiae genome was the largest decentralised experiment in modern molecular biology and resulted in a unique data resource representing the first complete set of genes from a eukaryotic organism. 12 million bases were sequenced in a truly international effort involving European, US, Canadian and Japanese laboratories. While the yeast genome represents only a small fraction of the information in today's public sequence databases, the complete, ordered and non-redundant sequence provides an invaluable resource for the detailed analysis of cellular gene function and genome architecture. In terms of throughput, completeness and information content, yeast has always been the lead eukaryotic organism in genomics; it is still the largest genome to be completely sequenced.
