Induction of ploidy level increments in an asporogenous industrial strain of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae by UV irradiation.

Cells of an asporogenous industrial strain of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae were irradiated with UV light by using a method that was developed previously (T. Sasaki and Y. Ohshima, Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 53:1504-1511, 1987). This treatment gave rise to large-cell clones among the surviving cells, from which colonies consisting of cells with a normal morphology and a prototrophic property were obtained. The large-cell trait of these was stably inheritable, with the cell volumes being about twice that of the parent for 7 years on a slant agar medium at 4 degrees C with repeated transfers. The cellular DNA content of these clones, in comparison to those of two authentic haploid strains, was determined by chemical analysis. The ratio of the DNA contents showed that the parent and its large-cell derivatives were a diploid and tetraploids, respectively. No abnormality was found in the chromosomal DNA patterns of the large-cell clones, at least as determined by agarose gel electrophoresis with a CHEF-DR II pulsed-field electrophoresis system. These findings led to the conclusion that our UV light method is applicable for inducing ploidy level increments in the widely used yeast species S. cerevisiae.