Journal of Microbiology

Isolation and characterization of pre-tRNA^Val splicing Mutants of Schizosaccharomyces pombe: Hwang, Ku Chan , Kim, Dae Myung; J. Microbiol. 1997;35(4):334-340.

Abstract: A collection of 132 temperature sensitive (ts) mutants was generated by the chemical mutagenesis of Schizosaccharomyces pombe wild type strain and screened for tRNA splicing defects on Northern blots by hybridization with an oligonucleotide that recognizes the exon of the S. pombe tRNA^Val as a probe. We identidied 6 mutants which accumulate precursor tRNA^Val. Among them, 2 mutants exhibited remarkable morphological differences compared to wild type cells. One tRNA splicing mutant showed elongated cell shape in permissive as well as non-permissive cultures. The other mutant exhibited shortened cell morphology only in nonpermissive culture. The total RNA pattern in the splicing mutants appeared to be normal. Genetic analysis of four tRNA^Val splicing mutants demonstrated that the mutation reside in different genes.

Factors affecting pheromone induction of schizosaccharomyces pomba and isolation of pheromone induction mutants: Jun, Jai Hyun , Kim, Young Min , Lee, Joo Hun , Chung, In Kwon , Kim, Dae Myung; J. Microbiol. 1998;36(3):196-202.

Abstract: The mating pheromones of Schizosaccharomyces pombe are induced by nutritional starvation. However, this nutritional signaling pathway is largely unknown. For a complete understanding of pheromone induction, we examined the environmental factors affecting the induction afer cells were transferred to a nitrogen-starved medium. It appeared that the induction of mfm2 transcription was affected by the general environmental stress including incubation time, incubation temperature, and the growth phase of the cells. We identified 7 pheromone induction mutants by screening temperature sensitive mutant bank. Three of these mutants showed elongated cell shapes and one mutant exhibited swollen cell morphology in permissive culture, suggesting that their cell cycles were also impaired. Characterization of the pheromone induction mutants may elucidate the components required in nutritional signaling pathway leading to pheromone induction.

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