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R K Mortimer

Publications and source records attributed to R K Mortimer.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1989

Failure to induce a DNA repair gene, RAD54, in Saccharomyces cerevisiae does not affect DNA repair or recombination phenotypes.

The Saccharomyces cerevisiae RAD54 gene is transcriptionally regulated by a broad spectrum of DNA-damaging agents. Induction of RAD54 by DNA-damaging agents is under positive control. Sequences responsible for DNA damage induction (the DRS element) lie within a 29-base-pair region from -99 to -70 from the most proximal transcription start site. This inducible promoter element is functionally separable from a poly(dA-dT) region immediately downstream which is required for constitutive expression. Deletions which eliminate induction of RAD54 transcription by DNA damage but do not affect constitutive expression have no effect on growth or survival of noninducible strains relative to wild-type strains in the presence of DNA-damaging agents. The DRS element is also not required for homothallic mating type switching, transcriptional induction of RAD54 during meiosis, meiotic recombination, or spontaneous or X-ray-induced mitotic recombination. We find no phenotype for a lack of induction of RAD54 message via the damage-inducible DRS, which raises significant questions about the physiology of DNA damage induction in S. cerevisiae.

Base Sequence↗
PubMed1988

Karyotyping of yeast strains of several genera by field inversion gel electrophoresis.

Field inversion gel electrophoresis has been used to improve the resolution of the large chromosomes (greater than 1000 kb) present in Saccharomyces kluyveri and in several genera of yeasts other than Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and thus establish more accurately the electrophoretic karyotype of these yeasts. Field inversion gel electrophoresis has also been used to demonstrate the presence of chromosome length polymorphisms in several of the yeasts studied. By Southern blotting techniques the greater degree of relatedness of S. kluyveri and Kluyveromyces lactis to S. cerevisiae, as compared to that of the other genera of yeasts studied, has been established.

Blotting, Southern↗
PubMed1987

Analysis of DNA double strand breakage and repair using orthogonal field alternation gel electrophoresis.

Orthogonal field alternation gel electrophoresis (OFAGE) allows separation of DNA molecules in the size range of 200 kb to 3000 kb. These sizes encompass the chromosome sizes of the genome of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Using this technique, we have found that yeast cells exposed to X-rays generate a smear of DNA fragments corresponding to the products of random, independent double strand breaks, and that the bands corresponding to unbroken chromosomes decrease in intensity in direct proportion to chromosome size. If exposed wild type cells are permitted time to repair (5 h at 30 degrees C on YEPD), the fragments partially disappear and the chromosome bands reappear, although at less than normal intensity. In certain radiation-sensitive mutants (rad51, rad52 and rad54), the fragment smear appears following X-ray exposure but no repair of broken chromosomes occurs. In fact, loss of the fragments occurs; this could appear as partial repair using other procedures.

Blotting, Southern↗
PubMed1987

Characterization of null mutants of the RAD55 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae: effects of temperature, osmotic strength and mating type.

RAD55 belongs to a group of genes required for resistance to ionizing radiation, RAD50-RAD57, which are thought to define a pathway of recombinational repair. Since all four alleles of RAD55 are temperature conditional (cold sensitive) for their radiation phenotype, we investigated the phenotype produced by null mutations in the RAD55 gene, constructed in vitro and transplaced to the yeast chromosome. The X-ray sensitivity of these null mutant strains was surprisingly suppressed by increased temperature, osmotic strength of the growth medium and heterozygosity at the mating-type locus. These first two properties, temperature conditionality and osmotic remediability, are commonly associated with missense mutations; these rad55 null mutants are unique in that they exhibit these properties although the mutant gene cannot be expressed. X-ray-induced mitotic recombination was also cold sensitive in rad55 mutant diploids. Although mitotic growth was unaffected in these strains, meiosis was a lethal event at both high and low temperatures. Whereas the phenotype of rad55 null mutants is consistent with a role of RAD55 in recombination and recombinational repair, there is evidence for considerable RAD55-independent recombination, at least in mitotic cells, which is influenced by temperature and MAT. We discuss models for the role of RAD55 in recombination to explain the unusual properties of rad55 mutants.

Alleles↗
PubMed1987

Regulation of RAD54- and RAD52-lacZ gene fusions in Saccharomyces cerevisiae in response to DNA damage.

The RAD52 and RAD54 genes in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae are involved in both DNA repair and DNA recombination. RAD54 has recently been shown to be inducible by X-rays, while RAD52 is not. To further investigate the regulation of these genes, we constructed gene fusions using 5' regions upstream of the RAD52 and RAD54 genes and a 3'-terminal fragment of the Escherichia coli beta-galactosidase gene. Yeast transformants with either an integrated or an autonomously replicating plasmid containing these fusions expressed beta-galactosidase activity constitutively. In addition, the RAD54 gene fusion was inducible in both haploid and diploid cells in response to the DNA-damaging agents X-rays, UV light, and methyl methanesulfonate, but not in response to heat shock. The RAD52-lacZ gene fusion showed little or no induction in response to X-ray or UV radiation nor methyl methanesulfonate. Typical induction levels for RAD54 in cells exposed to such agents were from 3- to 12-fold, in good agreement with previous mRNA analyses. When MATa cells were arrested in G1 with alpha-factor, RAD54 was still inducible after DNA damage, indicating that the observed induction is independent of the cell cycle. Using a yeast vector containing the EcoRI structural gene fused to the GAL1 promoter, we showed that double-strand breaks alone are sufficient in vivo for induction of RAD54.

Cell Cycle↗
PubMed1986

A yeast screening system for simultaneously monitoring multiple genetic endpoints.

Mutation, recombination, and mitochondrial deficiencies have been proposed to have roles in the carcinogenic process. We describe a diploid strain of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae capable of detecting this wide spectrum of genetic changes. Strain XD83 can detect forward mutation, back nuclear frameshift and base-pair substitution mutation, nuclear intragenic and intergenic recombination, and mitochondrial forward point mutations and deletions. The markers used for monitoring these events have been especially well characterized genetically. Ultraviolet light was chosen as a model carcinogenic agent to test this system. In addition to highly significant (P less than 0.01) increases in the frequencies of each genetic change, increases in the absolute numbers (yields) of each change indicated induction and not selective survival. The relative amounts of each type of genetic change varied with dose and should be considered a part of the spectrum of change induced by ultraviolet light. The wide spectrum of endpoints monitored in the XD83 yeast system may allow the detection of certain carcinogens and other genetically toxic agents which have escaped detection in more limited systems. Since only one strain is required to simultaneously monitor these genetic changes, this assay system should facilitate comparisons of the induced changes and be more efficient than using multiple strains to monitor the same endpoints.

Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation↗
PubMed1986

First position wobble in codon-anticodon pairing: amber suppression by a yeast glutamine tRNA.

A 2.4-kb fragment of DNA isolated from the Saccharomyces cerevisiae genome was found to suppress amber mutations when its carrier plasmid was present in high copy number. A 1.2-kb subclone of this fragment was sufficient to confer suppressor activity. Sequencing has established that this fragment carries a normal glutamine tRNA gene. Deletion of this tRNA gene from the subclone resulted in the loss of suppressor activity. The tRNAGln has the anticodon CUG that normally recognizes the glutamine codon CAG. We propose that suppression occurs via an inefficient readthrough of the UAG amber stop codons during translation. Such readthrough requires wobble in the first position of the codon.

Anticodon↗
PubMed1986

Genealogy of principal strains of the yeast genetic stock center.

We have constructed a genealogy of strain S288C, from which many of the mutant and segregant strains currently used in studies on the genetics and molecular biology of Saccharomyces cerevisiae have been derived. We have determined that its six progenitor strains were EM93, EM126, NRRL YB-210 and the three baking strains Yeast Foam, FLD and LK. We have estimated that approximately 88% of the gene pool of S288C is contributed by strain EM93. The principal ancestral genotypes were those of segregant strains EM93-1C and EM93-3B, initially distributed by C. C. Lindegren to several laboratories. We have analyzed an isolate of lyophilized culture of strain EM93 and determined its genotype as MATa/MAT alpha SUC2/SUC2 GAL2/gal2 MAL/MAL mel/mel CUP1/cup1 FLO1/flo1. Strain EM93 is therefore the probable origin of genes SUC2, gal2, CUP1 and flo1 of S288C. We give details of the current availability of several of the progenitor strains and propose that this genealogy should be of assistance in elucidating the origins of several types of genetic and molecular heterogeneities in Saccharomyces.

Phylogeny↗
PubMed1985

A mapping method for Saccharomyces cerevisiae using rad52-induced chromosome loss.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae diploids homozygous for the rad52-1 mutation have previously been shown to lose chromosomes mitotically. Spontaneous events and events following low levels of X-ray or methyl methanesulfonate treatment result in monosomic diploids, whereas higher levels of treatment result in near haploidization. This rad52-1-dependent chromosome loss has been used to develop a new mapping method which can be used to assign a previously unmapped gene to a chromosome. Chromosome loss mapping can be done in either of two ways: if a diploid, homozygous for rad52-1 but heterozygous for a variety of other recessive markers, is constructed with an unmapped recessive mutation in coupling with known chromosomal markers, chromosome loss will result in the coordinate expression of the mutation and other recessive markers on the same chromosome; if, however, the diploid is constructed with the unmapped mutation in repulsion to chromosomal markers, then even haploidization will never result in the coordinate expression of the unmapped mutation and other markers on the same homologous chromosome pair--This mapping method and subsequent tetrad analyses have been used to locate hom6 on chromosome X, ade4 on chromosome XIII and cdc31 on chromosome XV and to demonstrate that met5, previously assigned to chromosome V, actually maps to chromosome X; the met- marker on chromosome V has been shown to be met6. GAL80 and SUP5, previously assigned to an unmapped fragment, have now been mapped to the right arm of chromosome XIII.

Chromosome Deletion↗
PubMed1984

Cloning and mapping of Saccharomyces cerevisiae photoreactivation gene PHR1.

The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, like most organisms, is able to directly repair pyrimidine dimers by using a photoreactivating enzyme and visible light. Cells carrying the phr1 mutation were shown previously to be unable to photoreactivate dimers, but neither the map position nor the primary gene product of the PHR1 gene has been determined. We have cloned this gene and determined its map position. A plasmid containing a 6.4-kilobase yeast DNA insert has been isolated and shown to restore photoreactivation in a phr1 strain. A 3.1-kilobase subclone has also been shown to complement phr1. The original plasmid was targeted to integrate into chromosomal DNA at a site homologous to the insert by cutting within the insert. Two of these integrants have been mapped on the right arm of chromosome XV; the integrants have been further mapped at ca. 13 centimorgans from prt1. It has also been independently determined that phr1 maps at this location. Thus, we have determined the map position of PHR1 and also have shown that the plasmid contains PHR1 rather than a suppressor of the phr1 mutation.

Chromosome Mapping↗
PubMed1984

The effect of cycloheximide on repair in a temperature conditional radiation-sensitive mutant of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Previous results [M. Budd and R. K. Mortimer, Mutat. Res. 103, 19-24 (1982)] have shown that rad54-3 strains are temperature conditional for double-strand break repair. At the temperature where survival is high, 23 degrees C, rad54-3 strains are able to repair X-ray-induced double-strand breaks, while at the temperature where survival is low, 36 degrees C, these strains are unable to repair rad54-3 strains provide a system to study the effects of drugs that block protein synthesis such as cycloheximide on repair of X-ray damage. Repair of X-ray damage is studied by irradiating rad54-3 cells, incubating them at the permissive temperature, 23 degrees C, for 5 hr, shifting the cells to the restrictive temperature, 36 degrees C, and assaying for colony-forming ability. Comparing the survival of these cells with those which had been continuously incubated at the restrictive temperature after irradiation shows the extent of repair. Addition of cycloheximide at the time of irradiation causes an inhibition of repair. If cycloheximide is added a short time after irradiation, an enhanced recovery is observed compared with the addition of the drug at the time of irradiation. One explanation for the enhanced recovery is an increased synthesis of repair enzymes after irradiation.

Cell Survival↗
PubMed1981

Mitotic chromosome loss in a radiation-sensitive strain of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Cells of Saccharomyces cerevisiae with mutations in the RAD52 gene have previously been shown to be defective in meiotic and mitotic recombination, in sporulation, and in repair of radiation-induced damage to DNA. In this study we show that diploid cells homozygous for rad52 lose chromosomes at high frequencies and that these frequencies of loss can be increased dramatically by exposure of these cells to x-rays. Genetic analyses of survivors of x-ray treatment demonstrate that chromosome loss events result in the conversion of diploid cells to cells with near-haploid chromosome numbers.

Chromosome Aberrations↗
PubMed1980

Genetic mapping of arg1 and arg8 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae by trisomic analysis combined with interallelic complementation.

Through use of multiply disomic strains, the genes arg1 and arg8 were excluded from all of chromosomes I to XVII except (i) XV and (ii) IX and XV, respectively. Further aneuploid analyses showed that these two genes were on the same chromosome. By tetrad analysis, arg1 was shown to be linked to SUP3 on the left arm of chromosome XV (parental ditype:nonparental ditype:tetratype = 74; 6:139) and arg8 was shown to be loosely linked to arg1 (parental ditype:nonparental ditype:tetratype 72:17:220) on the same arm. The sequence of the genes on this chromosome arm is centromere-SUP3-arg8. Because arg1 had previously been used to define an 18th chromosome, these results reestablished the minimum chromosome number in Saccharomyces cerevisiae as 17.

Arginine↗