SAD mutation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae is an extra a cassette

Sporulation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae ordinarily requires the a1 function of the a mating type locus. SAD is a dominant mutation that allows strains lacking a1 (MAT alpha/MAT alpha and mata1/MAT alpha diploids) to sporulate. We provide functional and physical evidence that SAD is an extra cassette in the yeast genome, distinct from those at HML, MAT, and HMR. The properties of SAD strains indicate that the a cassette at SAD produces a limited amount of a1 product, sufficient for promoting sporulation but not for inhibiting mating and other processes. These conclusions come from the following observations. (i) SAD did not act by allowing expression of HMRa: mata1/MAT alpha diploids carrying SAD and only alpha cassettes at HML and HMR sporulated efficiently. (ii) SAD acted as an a cassette donor in HML alpha HMR alpha strains and could heal a mata1 mutation to MATa as a result of mating type interconversion. (iii) The genome of SAD strains contained a single new cassette locus, as determined by Southern hybridization. (iv) Expression of a functions from the SAD a cassette was limited by Sir: sir- SAD strains exhibited more extreme phenotypes than SIR SAD strains. This observation indicates that SAD contains not only cassette information coding for a1 (presumably from HMRa) but also sites for Sir action.