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Microscopy of Fission Yeast Sexual Lifecycle
Published on: March 9, 2016
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Engineering heterothallic strains in fission yeast.
Daniel García-Ruano1, Ian Hsu2, Baptiste Leray1
1Institute of Biochemistry and Cellular Genetics, CNRS UMR 5095, University of Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France.
Yeast (Chichester, England)
|December 15, 2023
Summary
Researchers developed a simple CRISPR-Cas9 method to create heterothallic fission yeast strains. This technique efficiently engineers heterothallic cells from homothallic yeast, aiding genetic studies.
Area of Science:
- Microbiology
- Genetics
- Molecular Biology
Background:
- Schizosaccharomyces pombe (fission yeast) are homothallic, enabling self-mating and spore formation under nitrogen starvation.
- Homothallic strains switch mating types (h- and h+) for efficient mating.
- Heterothallic strains are crucial for Mendelian genetics research but are difficult to derive from natural homothallic isolates.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop an efficient and simple method for generating heterothallic fission yeast strains.
- To overcome limitations of existing tedious or mutagenic strategies for creating heterothallic cells from homothallic parents.
Main Methods:
- Utilized CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology.
- Leveraged a previously identified alteration in the mating type locus of a switching-deficient strain.
Main Results:
- Successfully generated heterothallic fission yeast strains in a single step.
- Demonstrated high efficiency in engineering heterothallic cells from homothallic S. pombe.
Conclusions:
- The described CRISPR-Cas9 approach provides a facile and efficient method for producing heterothallic fission yeast.
- This advancement facilitates the use of diverse natural S. pombe isolates in genetic research.
