Nuclear and mitochondrial deoxyribonucleic acid replication during mitosis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

To study nuclear and mitochondrial deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) synthesis during the cell cycle, a 15N-labeled log-phase population of Saccharomyces cervisiae was shifted to 14N medium. After one-half generation, the cells were centrifuged on a sorbitol gradient in a zonal rotor to fractionate the population according to cell size and age into fractions representing the yeast cell cycle. DNA samples isolated from the zonal rotor cell samples were centrifuged to equilibrium in CsC1 in an analytical ultracentrifuge to separate the nuclear and mitochondrial DNA components. The amount of 14N incorporated into each 15N-labeled DNA species was measured. The extent of nuclear DNA replication per sample was obtained by measuring the amount of hybrid DNA. The percentage of hybrid nuclear DNA increased from 6 to 68% and then decreased to 44% during the cell cycle. Upon ultracentrifugation, mitochondrial DNA banded as a unimodal peak in all zonal rotor samples. Mitochondrial DNA replication could be ascertained only by the 14N level in each mitochondrial peak and not, as with nuclear DNA, by hybrid DNA level. In contrast to the nuclear incorporation pattern, the 14N percentage in mitochondrial DNA remained effectively constant during the cell cycle. Comparison of the data to theoretical distributions showed that nuclear DNA was replicated discontinuously during the cell cycle, whereas mitochondrial DNA was replicated continuously throughout the entire mitotic cycle.