Mutants of Saccharomyces cerevisiae deficient in adenine phosphoribosyltransferase

Spontaneous and ethyl methanesulfate induced mutants of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, with partial and complete deficiency of adenine phosphoribosyltransferase (APRT, EC 2.4.2.7), were isolated by selection for resistance to 8-azaadenine. Matings between totally deficient mutants and tester strain resulted in diploid heterozygotes that were sensitive to azaadenine. Upon sporulation and tetrad analysis, azaadenine resistance (and APRT deficiency) segregated as expected for a single Mendelian gene. Hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (EC 2.4.2.8) activity in the mutants was similar to that in the wild-type cells. There was no detectable activity of adenine aminohydrolase (EC 3.5.4.2) in the wild-type or mutant cells.