Abstract
Synthetic lethality is an extreme form of negative genetic
epistasis that arises when a combination of functional deficiency
in two or more genes results in cell death, whereas none
of the single genetic perturbations are lethal by themselves.
This unconventional genetic interaction is a modification
of the concept of essentiality that can be exploited for the
purpose of targeted cancer therapy. The yeast Saccharomyces
cerevisiae has been pivotally used for early large-scale synthetic
lethal screens due to its experimental advantages, but
recent advances in gene silencing technology have now made
direct high-throughput analysis possible in higher organisms.
Identification of tumor-specific alterations and characterization
of the mechanistic principles underlying synthetic lethal
interaction are the key to applying synthetic lethality to clinical
cancer treatment by enabling genome-driven oncological
research. Here, we provide emerging ideas on the synthetic
lethal interactions in budding yeast, particularly between cellular
processes responsible for oxidative stress response and
DNA damage repair, and discuss how they can be appropriately
utilized for context-dependent cancer therapeutics.
Citations
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