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Genetics logoLink to Genetics
. 1992 Sep;132(1):9–21. doi: 10.1093/genetics/132.1.9

An Examination of Adaptive Reversion in Saccharomyces Cerevisiae

D F Steele 1, S Jinks-Robertson 1
PMCID: PMC1205133  PMID: 1398066

Abstract

Reversion to Lys(+) prototrophy in a haploid yeast strain containing a defined lys2 frameshift mutation has been examined. When cells were plated on synthetic complete medium lacking only lysine, the numbers of Lys(+) revertant colonies accumulated in a time-dependent manner in the absence of any detectable increase in cell number. An examination of the distribution of the numbers of early appearing Lys(+) colonies from independent cultures suggests that the mutations to prototrophy occurred randomly during nonselective growth. In contrast, an examination of the distribution of late appearing Lys(+) colonies indicates that the underlying reversion events occurred after selective plating. No accumulation of Lys(+) revertants occurred when cells were starved for tryptophan, leucine or both lysine and tryptophan prior to plating selectively for Lys(+) revertants. These results indicate that mutations accumulate more frequently when they confer a selective advantage, and are thus consistent with the occurrence of adaptive mutations in yeast.

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Selected References

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