Genetic analysis of two mutations affecting thymidine metabolism in Dictyostelium discoideum

The tmpA600 mutation confers thymidylate synthase deficiency and thymidine auxotrophy to Dictyostelium discoideum. The tdrA600 mutation enhances transport of thymidine and thereby reduces the auxotrophic requirement of tmpA600 strains. The tmpA locus maps to linkage group III. The tdrA600 mutation is dominant and cosegregates with both linkage groups IV and VI, possibly because of a translocation between the two. The tdrA600 allele is sufficient to allow efficient incorporation of exogenous [3H]thymidine or [3H]uridine into TCA-precipitable material and to sensitize the cell to the nucleoside-analog inhibitor, 5-fluorodeoxyuridine. These properties make the tdrA mutation useful for studies requiring labelling of DNA or RNA in vivo.