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Partial deprivation of GTP initiates meiosis and sporulation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

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Summary

We have investigated the physiological conditions under which meiosis and the ensuing sporulation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae are initiated. Initiation of sporulation occurs in response to carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, or sulfur deprivation, and also, when met auxotrophs are partially starved for methionine, but not after starvation of other amino acid auxotrophs. It also occurs after partial starvation of pur or gua auxotrophs for guanine but not after starvation of ura auxotrophs for uracil. Under all these sporulation conditions the concentrations of both guanine nucleotides (GTP) and S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) decrease whereas those of other nucleotides show no trend. We show that the decrease of guanine nucleotides is essential for the initiation of meiosis and sporulation: when a gua auxotroph, also lacking one of the two SAM synthetases, is starved for guanine but supplemented with 0.1 mM methionine, GTP decreases while SAM slightly increases and yet the cells sporulate.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Molecular Biology, National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Building 36, Room 3D02, 20205, Bethesda, MD, USA

    Ashok Varma, Elisabeth B. Freese & Ernst Freese

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  1. Ashok Varma
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  2. Elisabeth B. Freese
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  3. Ernst Freese
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Communicated by E. Bautz

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Varma, A., Freese, E.B. & Freese, E. Partial deprivation of GTP initiates meiosis and sporulation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae . Molec. Gen. Genet. 201, 1–6 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00397977

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00397977

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