Analysis of the mechanism for reversion of a disrupted gene

A positive selection system for intrachromosomal recombination in Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been developed. This was achieved by integration of a plasmid containing an internal fragment of the HIS3 gene into its chromosomal location. This resulted in two copies of the HIS3 gene one with a terminal deletion at the 3' end and the other with a terminal deletion at the 5' end. Reversion of the gene disruption could be brought about by plasmid excision, unequal sister chromatid exchange or sister chromatid conversion. The purpose of this study was to define the mechanisms involved in reversion of the gene disruption. The frequency of plasmid excision could be determined by placing a yeast sequence bearing an origin of replication onto the plasmid that was subsequently integrated into the yeast genome. Unequal sister chromatid exchange and conversion could be distinguished by determining the nature of the reciprocal product by Southern blotting. The results indicate that reversion might occur mainly by conversion between sister chromatids. This is because the frequency of plasmid excision was about two orders of magnitude lower than the overall frequency of reversion and no reciprocal product indicative of sister chromatid exchange was found. The findings of this presentation suggest that conversion might be an important mechanism for recombination of sister chromatids and possibly for repair of damaged DNA in S or G2.