Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Genetics logoLink to Genetics
. 1990 Mar;124(3):547–559. doi: 10.1093/genetics/124.3.547

Mitotic Recombination among Subtelomeric Y' Repeats in Saccharomyces Cerevisiae

E J Louis 1, J E Haber 1
PMCID: PMC1203948  PMID: 2179053

Abstract

Y's are a dispersed family of repeats that vary in copy number, location and restriction fragment lengths between strains but exhibit within-strain homogeneity. We have studied mitotic recombination between members of the subtelomeric Y' repeated sequence family of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Individual copies of Y's were marked with SUP11 and URA3 which allowed for the selection of duplications and losses of the marked Y's. Duplications occurred by ectopic recombinational interactions between Y's at different chromosome ends as well as by unequal sister chromatid exchange. Several of the ectopic duplications resulted in an originally Y'-less chromosome end acquiring a marked Y'. Among losses, most resulted from ectopic exchange or conversion in which only the marker sequence was lost. In some losses, the chromosome end became Y'-less. Although the two subsets of Y's, Y'-longs (6.7 kb) and Y'-shorts (5.2 kb), share extensive sequence homology, a marked Y' recombines highly preferentially within its own subset. These mitotic interactions can in part explain the maintenance of Y's and their subsets, the homogeneity among Y's within a strain, as well as diversity between strains.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (5.4 MB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Amstutz H., Munz P., Heyer W. D., Leupoid U., Kohli J. Concerted evolution of tRNA genes: intergenic conversion among three unlinked serine tRNA genes in S. pombe. Cell. 1985 Apr;40(4):879–886. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(85)90347-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Boeke J. D., LaCroute F., Fink G. R. A positive selection for mutants lacking orotidine-5'-phosphate decarboxylase activity in yeast: 5-fluoro-orotic acid resistance. Mol Gen Genet. 1984;197(2):345–346. doi: 10.1007/BF00330984. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Borts R. H., Lichten M., Haber J. E. Analysis of meiosis-defective mutations in yeast by physical monitoring of recombination. Genetics. 1986 Jul;113(3):551–567. doi: 10.1093/genetics/113.3.551. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Borts R. H., Lichten M., Hearn M., Davidow L. S., Haber J. E. Physical monitoring of meiotic recombination in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Cold Spring Harb Symp Quant Biol. 1984;49:67–76. doi: 10.1101/sqb.1984.049.01.010. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Carle G. F., Olson M. V. An electrophoretic karyotype for yeast. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1985 Jun;82(11):3756–3760. doi: 10.1073/pnas.82.11.3756. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Carlson M., Celenza J. L., Eng F. J. Evolution of the dispersed SUC gene family of Saccharomyces by rearrangements of chromosome telomeres. Mol Cell Biol. 1985 Nov;5(11):2894–2902. doi: 10.1128/mcb.5.11.2894. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Chaleff D. T., Fink G. R. Genetic events associated with an insertion mutation in yeast. Cell. 1980 Aug;21(1):227–237. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(80)90130-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Chan C. S., Tye B. K. Organization of DNA sequences and replication origins at yeast telomeres. Cell. 1983 Jun;33(2):563–573. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(83)90437-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Dunn B., Szauter P., Pardue M. L., Szostak J. W. Transfer of yeast telomeres to linear plasmids by recombination. Cell. 1984 Nov;39(1):191–201. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(84)90205-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Fasullo M. T., Davis R. W. Recombinational substrates designed to study recombination between unique and repetitive sequences in vivo. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1987 Sep;84(17):6215–6219. doi: 10.1073/pnas.84.17.6215. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Fitzgerald-Hayes M., Buhler J. M., Cooper T. G., Carbon J. Isolation and subcloning analysis of functional centromere DNA (CEN11) from Saccharomyces cerevisiae chromosome XI. Mol Cell Biol. 1982 Jan;2(1):82–87. doi: 10.1128/mcb.2.1.82. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Fogel S., Welch J. W., Louis E. J. Meiotic gene conversion mediates gene amplification in yeast. Cold Spring Harb Symp Quant Biol. 1984;49:55–65. doi: 10.1101/sqb.1984.049.01.009. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Heyer W. D., Munz P., Amstutz H., Aebi R., Gysler C., Schuchert P., Szankasi P., Leupold U., Kohli J., Gamulin V. Inactivation of nonsense suppressor transfer RNA genes in Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Intergenic conversion and hot spots of mutation. J Mol Biol. 1986 Apr 5;188(3):343–353. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(86)90159-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Hieter P., Mann C., Snyder M., Davis R. W. Mitotic stability of yeast chromosomes: a colony color assay that measures nondisjunction and chromosome loss. Cell. 1985 Feb;40(2):381–392. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(85)90152-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Horowitz H., Haber J. E. Identification of autonomously replicating circular subtelomeric Y' elements in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Mol Cell Biol. 1985 Sep;5(9):2369–2380. doi: 10.1128/mcb.5.9.2369. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Horowitz H., Thorburn P., Haber J. E. Rearrangements of highly polymorphic regions near telomeres of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Mol Cell Biol. 1984 Nov;4(11):2509–2517. doi: 10.1128/mcb.4.11.2509. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Ito H., Fukuda Y., Murata K., Kimura A. Transformation of intact yeast cells treated with alkali cations. J Bacteriol. 1983 Jan;153(1):163–168. doi: 10.1128/jb.153.1.163-168.1983. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Jackson J. A., Fink G. R. Gene conversion between duplicated genetic elements in yeast. Nature. 1981 Jul 23;292(5821):306–311. doi: 10.1038/292306a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Jackson J. A., Fink G. R. Meiotic recombination between duplicated genetic elements in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Genetics. 1985 Feb;109(2):303–332. doi: 10.1093/genetics/109.2.303. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Jinks-Robertson S., Petes T. D. Chromosomal translocations generated by high-frequency meiotic recombination between repeated yeast genes. Genetics. 1986 Nov;114(3):731–752. doi: 10.1093/genetics/114.3.731. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Klein H. L., Petes T. D. Intrachromosomal gene conversion in yeast. Nature. 1981 Jan 15;289(5794):144–148. doi: 10.1038/289144a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Kohli J., Munz P., Aebi R., Amstutz H., Gysler C., Heyer W. D., Lehmann L., Schuchert P., Szankasi P., Thuriaux P. Interallelic and intergenic conversion in three serine tRNA genes of Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Cold Spring Harb Symp Quant Biol. 1984;49:31–40. doi: 10.1101/sqb.1984.049.01.006. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Kupiec M., Petes T. D. Allelic and ectopic recombination between Ty elements in yeast. Genetics. 1988 Jul;119(3):549–559. doi: 10.1093/genetics/119.3.549. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Lichten M., Haber J. E. Position effects in ectopic and allelic mitotic recombination in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Genetics. 1989 Oct;123(2):261–268. doi: 10.1093/genetics/123.2.261. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Liebman S., Shalit P., Picologlou S. Ty elements are involved in the formation of deletions in DEL1 strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Cell. 1981 Nov;26(3 Pt 1):401–409. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(81)90209-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Louis E. J., Haber J. E. Nonrecombinant meiosis I nondisjunction in Saccharomyces cerevisiae induced by tRNA ochre suppressors. Genetics. 1989 Sep;123(1):81–95. doi: 10.1093/genetics/123.1.81. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Louis E. J., Haber J. E. The subtelomeric Y' repeat family in Saccharomyces cerevisiae: an experimental system for repeated sequence evolution. Genetics. 1990 Mar;124(3):533–545. doi: 10.1093/genetics/124.3.533. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Luria S. E., Delbrück M. Mutations of Bacteria from Virus Sensitivity to Virus Resistance. Genetics. 1943 Nov;28(6):491–511. doi: 10.1093/genetics/28.6.491. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  29. Maloney D. H., Fogel S. Gene conversion, unequal crossing-over and mispairing at a non-tandem duplication during meiosis of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Curr Genet. 1987;12(1):1–7. doi: 10.1007/BF00420720. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  30. McCready S. J., Cox B. S. Antisuppressors in yeast. Mol Gen Genet. 1973 Aug 28;124(4):305–320. doi: 10.1007/BF00267660. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  31. McCready S. J., Cox B. Suppressor-specificity of antisuppressors in yeast. Genet Res. 1976 Oct;28(2):129–138. doi: 10.1017/s0016672300016815. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  32. Nagylaki T. Evolution of multigene families under interchromosomal gene conversion. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1984 Jun;81(12):3796–3800. doi: 10.1073/pnas.81.12.3796. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  33. Ohta T., Dover G. A. Population genetics of multigene families that are dispersed into two or more chromosomes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1983 Jul;80(13):4079–4083. doi: 10.1073/pnas.80.13.4079. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  34. Ohta T. On the evolution of multigene families. Theor Popul Biol. 1983 Apr;23(2):216–240. doi: 10.1016/0040-5809(83)90015-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  35. Petes T. D., Hill C. W. Recombination between repeated genes in microorganisms. Annu Rev Genet. 1988;22:147–168. doi: 10.1146/annurev.ge.22.120188.001051. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  36. Petes T. D. Unequal meiotic recombination within tandem arrays of yeast ribosomal DNA genes. Cell. 1980 Mar;19(3):765–774. doi: 10.1016/s0092-8674(80)80052-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  37. Rothstein R. J. One-step gene disruption in yeast. Methods Enzymol. 1983;101:202–211. doi: 10.1016/0076-6879(83)01015-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  38. Scherer S., Davis R. W. Recombination of dispersed repeated DNA sequences in yeast. Science. 1980 Sep 19;209(4463):1380–1384. doi: 10.1126/science.6251545. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  39. Selker E. U., Yanofsky C., Driftmier K., Metzenberg R. L., Alzner-DeWeerd B., RajBhandary U. L. Dispersed 5S RNA genes in N. crassa: structure, expression and evolution. Cell. 1981 Jun;24(3):819–828. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(81)90107-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  40. Sugawara N., Szostak J. W. Recombination between sequences in nonhomologous positions. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1983 Sep;80(18):5675–5679. doi: 10.1073/pnas.80.18.5675. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  41. Szostak J. W., Blackburn E. H. Cloning yeast telomeres on linear plasmid vectors. Cell. 1982 May;29(1):245–255. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(82)90109-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  42. Szostak J. W., Wu R. Unequal crossing over in the ribosomal DNA of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Nature. 1980 Apr 3;284(5755):426–430. doi: 10.1038/284426a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  43. Walmsley R. W., Chan C. S., Tye B. K., Petes T. D. Unusual DNA sequences associated with the ends of yeast chromosomes. Nature. 1984 Jul 12;310(5973):157–160. doi: 10.1038/310157a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  44. Walsh J. B. Sequence-dependent gene conversion: can duplicated genes diverge fast enough to escape conversion? Genetics. 1987 Nov;117(3):543–557. doi: 10.1093/genetics/117.3.543. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  45. Willis K. K., Klein H. L. Intrachromosomal recombination in Saccharomyces cerevisiae: reciprocal exchange in an inverted repeat and associated gene conversion. Genetics. 1987 Dec;117(4):633–643. doi: 10.1093/genetics/117.4.633. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Genetics are provided here courtesy of Oxford University Press

RESOURCES