Reversal of cell determination in yeast meiosis: postcommitment arrest allows return to mitotic growth

When yeast from the early stages of meiosis are transferred from sporulation to growth medium, they can reenter the mitotic cell cycle directly. In contrast, cells from later stages of meiosis (after the initiation of the first nuclear division) will complete meiosis and sporulation despite the shift to growth medium, a phenomenon known as "commitment to meiosis." This study reports the surprising finding that when the normal progression of meiosis is arrested, cells from later stages of meiosis can return to growth. Cells were arrested after the first or second meiotic division by three independent means: the spo14 mutation, the spo3-1 mutation, and a high-temperature arrest of wild-type cells. In every case, the arrested cells were able to form buds after transfer to growth medium. These cells, however, experienced a delay upon return to growth relative to uncommitted cells. We propose that the commitment phenomenon results from a transient delay of mitotic growth, which occurs specifically during meiosis, and that commitment does not involve an irreversible inhibition of mitosis as previously thought.