Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a model for mammalian diseases

For many human diseases and disorders, the underlying molecular mechanism often remains poorly understood, limiting progress in developing effective targeted therapies and diagnostic tools. To fill this gap in knowledge, surrogate systems are required that faithfully recapitulate in vivo biology, as direct experimentation in humans is not feasible. Most mammalian cell lines are immortalized and genetically altered, making them limited representatives of normal physiological states. Animal models are costly, labour-intensive, and raise ethical concerns. On the other hand, the eukaryote Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a powerful model system for deciphering biological mechanisms and diseases in exquisite molecular detail. Fundamental cellular and molecular processes are highly conserved between yeast and humans. Yeast can be diploid, or haploid where the effect of a genetic change is not masked by the intact second allele. It is inexpensive to handle, grows rapidly, and is highly amenable to manipulation at the genetic, molecular, biochemical, and cellular level. Moreover, an ever-growing array of advanced technologies, protocols, yeast collections and libraries, and databases is available. This review highlights examples in which yeast has advanced our understanding of biological processes and diseases, facilitated drug development, and informed therapeutic interventions, demonstrating that it remains highly relevant in modern biomedical research.