Abstract

A novel strategy was developed for isolating suppressors from sporulation-deficient mutants. The mutation in the BCY1 gene, which codes for the regulatory subunit of cAMP-dependent protein kinase, when homozygous, results in diploids being meiosis and sporulation deficient. Two plasmids, YCp-MATα and YEp-SPOT7-lacZ, were introduced into MATα BCY1^+ or MATα bcy1 haploid cells. The transformant of the BCY1^+ haploid cell produced β-galactosidase under nutrient starvation, but the bcy1 transformant did not. Using this system, the mutagenesis experiment performed on the bcy1 transformant strain resulted in a number of sporulation mutants that produced β-galactosidase under nutrient starvation. One complementation group, sob1, was identified from the isolated suppressor mutants and characterized as a single recessive mutation by tetrad analysis. Genetic analysis revealed that the sob1 mutation suppressed the sporulation deficiency, the failure to arrest at the G1 phase of the cell cycle, and the sensitivity to heat or nitrogen starvation caused by the bcy1 mutation. However, the sob1 mutation did not suppress the sporulation deficiency of ime1 and of ime2 diploids. These results suggest that the sob1 mutation affects a gene which functions as a downstream regulator in both meiosis and cell cycle regulation.

• Keywords: Yeast; sporulation; meiosis; suppressor; bcy1