Simple Mendelian inheritance of the reiterated ribosomal DNA of yeast

A diploid strain of yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) was found to be heterozygous for two forms of the highly repetitious ribosomal DNA. These forms could be distinguished by the pattern of fragments produced after digestion with the site-specific restriction endonuclease EcoRI. The mode of inheritance of ribosomal DNA was determined by tetrad analysis. Of 14 tetrads analyzed, 12 clearly showed the ribosomal DNA forms segregating as a single Mendelian unit. The simplest interpretation of this result is that all of the approximately 100 copies of the ribosomal DNA genes of the yeast cell are located on one chromosome and that meiotic recombination within these genes is suppressed. Two of the 14 tetrads showed the segregation patterns expected as the result of mitotic recombination within the ribosomal DNA.