Genetic evidence for "Darwinian" selection at the molecular level. 3. The effect of the suppressive factor on nuclearly and cytoplasmically inherited chloramphenicol resistance in S. cerevisiae

Replicator regions of the yeast mitochondrial DNA responsible for suppressiveness

Hypersuppressiveness is a heritable property of some rho- mutants (called HS) that, in crosses to rho+, give rise to about 100% rho- cells. The mtDNAs of all HS rho- mutants reveal a common organization: they all share a homologous region of about 300 base pairs (called rep) and the fragments retained are always short (ca. 1% of the wild-type genome) and tandemly repeated. Using one HS rho- mutant as an example, we show that, after crosses with rho+ strains, the mitochondrial genome of the progeny is indistinguishable from that of the HS parent. This suggests that HS mtDNA molecules have a decisive selective advantage for replication during the transient heteroplasmic stage that follows zygote formation, the rep regions playing a role in the control of replication initiation of the mtDNA molecules. The complete nucleotide sequence of one HS rho- mutant and its localization in the oli1-rib3 segment of the rho+ mitochondrial genome are presented. Comparison of the nucleotide sequences of the rep regions of two different HS rho- mutants reveals that several rep sequences must exist in the wild-type genome, probably as a result of duplications of an originally unique ancestor.

Suppression of mitochondrially-determined resistance to chloramphenicol and paromomycin by nuclear genes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Phenotypic "revertants" of a drug resistant strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae were induced by mutgenesis with manganese. Several of these drug sensitive mutants have been shown to result from mutations in the nuclear genome that cause phenotypic modification (suppression) of the mitochondrially-determined drug resistant genotype. Four mutants carrying a single recessive nuclear gene capable of modifying mitochondrial chloramphenicol resistance are described; these may be assigned to three complementation groups. Chloramphenicol resistant mutants mapping at five separate mitochondrial loci are described. At least two of the nuclear genes cause modification of mitochondrial chloramphenicol resistance determined by mutations at three of these loci, but the other two loci are apparently non-suppressible by these nuclear alleles. This indicates that these modifiers do not act by causing a general decrease in cellular or mitochondrial permeability to the drug. A single dominant nuclear modifier of mitochondrial paromomycin resistance has been identified. It is non-allelic to and does not interact with the genes modifying mitochondrial chloramphenicol resistance.

Somatic segretation, recombination, asymmetrical distribution and complementation tests of cytoplasmically-inherited antibiotic-resistance mitochondrial markers in S. cerevisiae

Genetic analyses of 48-hr-old zygote-daughter-colony cells from crosses between chloramphenicol and erythromycin resistance markers located in mitochondrial DNA demonstrated homoplasmons of parental and recombinant genotypes, and heteroplasmons with recombinant and/or parental genotypes. Although the heteroplasmons were unstable and the homoplasmic components could be segregated by plating on selective media, the heteroplasmic state was often maintained beyond 19 cell divisions when grown on non-selective medium. Homoplasmons of recombinant genotype from repulsion crosses were observed with a frequency of 7.2, 9.0, 11.2 and 11.4 percent; two crosses with the resistance markers in coupling had 5.4 and 11.5 percent recombinants. Under non-selective conditions, the mitochondrial marker derived from the haploid parent of a mating type predominated in zygote-daughter-cells; this asymmetrical distribution could be reversed by selective pressure for the marker transmitted with low frequency. The challenge with chloramphenicol and erythromycin of zygotes from crosses of resistance-markers in repulsion revealed that inter-mitochondrial complementation was not occurring.