Abstract.
In the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, SPC42 is an essential gene, which encodes one of the major components of the spindle pole body (SPB). We report on a mutation in the SPC42 gene (spc42-102) that results in a sporulation-specific defect. Mitotic growth of haploid and diploid spc42-102 strains is normal and both exhibit the same growth rates as the isogenic wild-type strains. Many diploid spc42-102/spc42-102 cells undergo normal meiotic nuclear divisions, producing four haploid nuclei. However, a significant fraction of meiotic spc42-102/spc42-102 cells contain two immature SPBs and aberrant nuclei that are not surrounded by a prospore membrane. Some 40% of the resultant asci contain only two spores, while wild-type diploid cells almost always produce four-spored asci. Segregation of auxotrophic markers that are tightly linked to the centromere reveals that two-spore asci formed from spc42-102/spc42-102 diploid cells exclusively contain nonsister haploid spores. Western analysis and measurements of the fluorescent signal from an Spc42p-GFP (green fluorescent protein) fusion reveal that the mutant strain fails to accumulate Spc42p at meiosis. Thus, our results suggest that insufficiency of Spc42p during meiosis results in a pair of immature nonsister SPBs that are not enclosed by prospore membrane.
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Ishihara, S., Hirata, A., Minemura, M. et al. A mutation in SPC42, which encodes a component of the spindle pole body, results in production of two-spored asci in Saccharomyces cerevisiae . Mol Gen Genomics 265, 585–595 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1007/s004380000442
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s004380000442