Construction and characterization of a haploid strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae that completely lacks all genomic CYH2 sequences.

A diploid strain of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been constructed that has one copy of the ribosomal protein gene CYH2 completely deleted and replaced with the TRP1 gene using the method of Rothstein (1983). There are only small differences in growth rate and no detectable difference in steady state level of CYH2 mRNA between the diploid that is heterozygous for the CYH2 deletion and the parent diploid with two normal copies of this gene. This suggests that the diploid must partially compensate for the loss of one CYH2 gene. Tetrad dissection shows that haploid spores lacking the CYH2 gene cannot germinate. The lethality of this deletion can be rescued by a CYH2 cDNA on a low copy vector. Haploids which lack the genomic copy of the CYH2 gene, but contain a plasmid copy of the CYH2 cDNA are able to grow normally. These CYH2 deleted yeast haploids should be useful to analyze mutationally altered CYH2 genes and genes homologous to CYH2 from other organisms without interference from a genomic copy.