Chloroquine, a lysosomotropic agent, inhibits zygote formation in yeast

Haploid cells of opposite mating type of Saccharomyces cerevisiae conjugate to form zygote. During the conjugation process, the degradation or reorganization of the cell wall and the fusion of the two plasma membranes take place. Since chloroquine inhibits cellular events associated with the reorganization of the plasma membrane, the effect of the drug on conjugation was studied. Chloroquine at a concentration, at which cell growth was not retarded, inhibited zygote formation, while it did not affect other mating functions, such as sexual agglutination, production of and response to mating pheromone. Cells in a mating culture containing chloroquine formed no "prezygote" suggesting that they were not prepared for entering into fusion process. The inhibitory effect of chloroquine was reversible as cells formed zygote when they were washed after treatment with chloroquine. Zygote formation was unaffected in cells possessing chloroquine within vacuoles after incubation with the drug in complete medium (YPD) at pH 7.5, followed by washing. This suggests that chloroquine inhibits zygote formation by adsorbing to the plasma membrane of S. cerevisiae.