New research on mutation in yeast can enhance understanding of human diseasesJune 20, 2008Work from UNH Hubbard Center, Indiana University, others enhances understanding of genetics in human diseases DURHAM, N.H. - Yeast, a model organism heavily relied upon for studying basic biological processes as they relate to human health, mutates in a distinctly different pattern than other model organisms, a finding that brings researchers closer to understanding the role of evolutionary genetics in human diseases and cancer. The study, by researchers from the University of New Hampshire, Indiana University, Harvard University, and the University of Utah, appears in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS) Online Early Edition this week (June 16 - 20, 2008). "In biology, the mutation is an absolutely fundamental process, essential to evolution but also the source of all genetic disease," says Kelley Thomas, associate professor of biochemistry and director of the Hubbard Center for Genome Studies at the University of New Hampshire. "Despite its importance, we still don't know much about the basic processes of mutation." Cancers are caused by mutations, as are inherited diseases like Huntington's disease and fragile X syndrome, the most common inherited form of mental retardation. "If we know more about the patterns of mutation, we'd be able to better understand the origins of these diseases - and maybe prevent them," says Thomas. The researchers asked a fundamental question: "What is the baseline rate and spectrum of mutation in yeast?" They found that, like the previously studied mutations in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae had a very high rate of mutation from generation to generation. Its patterns of mutation, however, turned out to be unique. While C. elegans mutations were largely the result of inserting or deleting base pairs of DNA, yeast's patterns of mutation were characterized by changing one base pair for another. "That was really surprising, that we didn't find that adding or subtracting in yeast," says Thomas. He adds that the consequences of inserting and deleting base pairs can be much more dramatic than substituting one base pair for another. Comparing the mutation rates and spectrums of these two model organisms informs researchers' assumptions about mutation relevant to human health. "We were surprised that there isn't a common spectrum of mutation," says Thomas. "However, it's exciting, because if we can describe patterns of mutation, maybe we can understand why some organisms, including people, are susceptible to certain mutations and not others." The approach used in this study allows yeast to accumulate mutations in the near absence of natural selection. By doing this, cells with mutations that might otherwise be lost because their cell is outgrown by others can continue to survive and be analyzed for their mutations. With this study, Thomas and his colleagues overcome a major limitation to the study of mutation by using a new generation of sequencing technology that let them sequence the entire genome of each yeast strain and to identify the rare mutational events that have taken place. This way, the yeast accumulate mutations that might otherwise make them "bad yeast" - the weak survive - and look for them across the entire 10 million base pair genome. "The beer you make with this yeast is horrible," Thomas jokes. University of New Hampshire |
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| Related Yeast Current Events and Yeast News Articles Delft breakthrough in bioethanol production from agricultural waste With the introduction of a single bacterial gene into yeast, researchers from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands achieved three improvements in bioethanol production from agricultural waste material: 'More ethanol, less acetate and elimination of the major by-product glycerol' This week the invention was published in the scientific journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology. WPI Researchers Take Aim at Hard-to-Treat Fungal Infections A team of researchers at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) Life Sciences and Bioengineering Center at Gateway Park has developed a new model system to study fungal infections. Chromosomes dance and pair up on the nuclear membrane Meiosis - the pairing and recombination of chromosomes, followed by segregation of half to each egg or sperm cell - is a major crossroads in all organisms reproducing sexually. Possible help in fight against muscle-wasting disease A compound already used to treat pneumonia could become a new therapy for an inherited muscular wasting disease, according to researchers at the University of Oregon and the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry in New York. UC Riverside Researchers Create First Synthetic Cellulosome in Yeast A team of researchers led by University of California, Riverside (UCR) Professor of Chemical Engineering Wilfred Chen has constructed for the first time a synthetic cellulosome in yeast, which is much more ethanol-tolerant than the bacteria in which these structures are normally found. Pumpkin skin may scare away germs The skin of that pumpkin you carve into a Jack-o'-Lantern to scare away ghosts and goblins on Halloween contains a substance that could put a scare into microbes that cause millions of cases of yeast infections in adults and infants each year. Checkered history of mother and daughter cells explains cell cycle differences When mother and daughter cells are created each time a cell divides, they are not exactly alike. They have the same set of genes, but differ in the way they regulate them. Urate in blood and spinal fluid may predict slower decline in patients with Parkinson's disease Higher concentration of urate (an antioxidant) in the blood and spinal fluid of patients with early Parkinson's disease is associated with slower rates of clinical decline. How RNA polymerase II gets the go-ahead for gene transcription All cells perform certain basic functions. Each must selectively transcribe parts of the DNA that makes up its genome into RNAs that specify the structure of proteins. Scientists decipher missing piece of first-responder DNA repair machine Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the Scripps Research Institute have uncovered the role played by the least-understood part of a first-responder molecule that rushes in to bind and repair breaks in DNA strands, a process that helps people avoid cancer. More Yeast Current Events and Yeast News Articles |
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