Figure 2.

Synthetic lethality identifies genes acting in the same pathway or complex. Yeast cells are viable when experiencing either sub-lethal depletion of Hsp90 function or loss of function of ‘your favourite gene’ (YFG). The combination of both, however, is not tolerated and yeast cells are either ‘sick’ (reduced growth) or dead. Hsp90 function can be reduced by either pharmacological inhibition or the use of hypomorphic alleles and loss-of-function mutations can be achieved as described in the text.