Cloning of CDC33: a gene essential for growth and sporulation which does not interfere with cAMP production in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The CDC33 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae belongs to the class II 'START' genes. Its product is required for the initiation of a new cell division cycle (Hartwell, 1974). Many results suggest that the cAMP signalling pathway is one of the major controlling elements of 'START'. Components of this pathway are encoded by class II 'START' genes. The aim of the present study is to determine whether or not the CDC33 gene interferes with the cAMP signalling pathway. We report here the molecular cloning of the CDC33 gene by complementation of the cdc33-1 thermosensitive mutant. The identity of the cloned gene is confirmed by site-specific reintegration and segregation analysis. This gene is transcribed into a 900-nucleotides mRNA and appears to be relatively abundant in the cell. We also show that the CDC33 gene product is essential for sporulation. cdc33-1 mutant cells are able to enter into the resting state. The cAMP intracellular pool is not modified when the cdc33-1 mutant is shifted to the restrictive temperature. The cdc33-1 mutation is not suppressed by other known elements of the cAMP cascade. All these results suggest that the CDC33 'START' gene does not interfere with the cAMP signalling pathway which controls cell division.