Chromosome III of Saccharomyces cerevisiae: an ordered clone bank, a detailed restriction map and analysis of transcripts suggest the presence of 160 genes.

Using lambda phage vector EMBL4, we isolated 344 clones containing segments of chromosome III of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, analysed their physical structure with eight restriction enzymes and sorted the data in contiguous groups with computer programmes. Furthermore, we performed Southern hybridizations between the sorted contiguous clone groups and interrelated them into larger groups. In this way, we constructed an ordered clone bank that covers almost the whole of chromosome III with a single gap of several kilobases in length. The consensus physical map thus obtained totals 334.6 kb, which is in good agreement with the size of this chromosome estimated by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. Southern hybridization analysis with the DNA probes containing telomere-specific sequences showed that the bank contained a telomere at a position corresponding to the right arm terminus of chromosome III. Also, five Ty elements were found to be present. To estimate the number of genes on this chromosome and to analyse their levels of expression, we performed a series of Northern hybridization experiments using total poly(A)+ RNA from vegetatively growing cells and appropriate restriction enzyme fragments from the bank. Thus, we identified a total of 156 transcripts on chromosome III, indicating, on an average, one gene in every 2 kb on this chromosome. The transcripts were visually categorized into five groups according to their apparent levels of expression. It was found that the genes located near both termini are expressed only at low levels and that highly expressed genes are rather scattered over the chromosome.