Quantitation of the Effects of Disruption of Catabolite (De)Repression Genes on the Cell Cycle Behavior of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Abstract.

We have studied the effect of disrupting catabolite (de)repression genes SNF1, SNF4, and MIG1 on the cell cycle behavior of the CEN.PK122 wild type (WT) strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae by flow cytometry in glucose-limited chemostat cultures or batch growth in the presence of different carbon sources. Through a combination of flow cytometry of propidium iodide–stained cells and mathematical modeling we showed that the deletion of the SNF4 gene provoked a decrease in the length of G1 with respect to the WT strain along with a smaller difference in the cell cycle length of parent and daughter cells. snf1 and mig1 mutants exhibited slightly shorter G1 respect to the WT. Additionally, in the mig1 mutant the cell cycle length of parent and daughter cells was slightly altered. The results obtained are in agreement with the view that the SNF4 gene is involved in the regulation of cell cycle in yeast.