Efficient gene disruption in the high-ploidy yeast Candida utilis using the Cre-loxP system

In order to take full advantage of the industrially important yeast Candida utilis, we developed a practical recombinant DNA tool for multiple gene disruption in C. utilis based on the Cre-loxP system, which makes possible the reuse of selection markers. For this purpose, two plasmids were constructed: one harbored a heterologous loxP-flanked selection marker cassette carrying the gene responsible for hygromycin B-resistance, and the other had an autonomous replication sequence (ARS) and a Cre-recombinase expression module. Multiple disruption of C. utilis NBRC0988 URA3 genes (CuURA3), encoding orotidine-5'-phosphate decarboxylase, validated the efficiency of the system. The fourth round of deletion yielded a null mutant, i.e., a uracil auxotroph, giving some support to the possibility that C. utilis NBRC0988 is a tetraploid. This agreed very well with the outcomes of FACS analysis, which showed that various strains of this yeast contained 3-5 times more DNA than a Saccharomyces cerevisiae haploid.