Multiple mutant analysis of recombination in yeast

Summary

The RAD6, RAD50, and RAD52 loci have been identified as genes which code for functions which may act during meiotic recombination in yeast (Game et al. 1980; Prakash et al. 1980). By use of the spo13-1 mutation, which allows sporulating cells to bypass the first meiotic division, the rad50-1 mutation has been directly implicated as a general meiotic Rec^- mutation by examination of viable ascospores (Malone and Esposito 1981). Since the rad6-1 and rad52-1 mutations do not yield viable ascospores in the presence of spo13-1, multiple rad mutants have been constructed and analyzed. This analysis has demonstrated that in meiosis rad50-1 is epistatic to rad52-1, and rad6-1 is epistatic to rad50-1. This suggests that the order of action of these genes during meiosis is RAD6, RAD50, and then RAD52. The data for rad6-1 can be interpreted to suggest that RAD6 may not code for a recombination function, per se, although it may be required for recombination to occur. Analysis of mitotic recombination indicates that rad52-1 is epistatic to rad50-1; in mitosis; this is consistent with the hypothesis that the RAD50 gene codes for a recombination function required in meiosis but not in mitosis.