Temperature-sensitive lethal pseudorevertants of ste mutations in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

A procedure was devised to isolate mutations that could restore conjugational competence to temperature sensitive ste mutants and simultaneously confer temperature-sensitive lethal growth phenotypes. Three such mutations, falling into two complementation groups, were identified on the basis of suppression of ste5 alleles. These same mutations were later shown to be capable of suppressing ste4 and ste7 alleles. Five mutations in a single complementation group were isolated as suppressors of ste2 alleles. None of the mutations described in this study conferred a homogeneous cell cycle arrest phenotype, and all were shown to define complementation groups distinct from those previously identified in studies of cell division cycle (cdc) mutations. In no instance did pseudoreversion appear to be achieved by mutational G1 arrest of ste mutant cells. Instead, it is proposed that the mutations restore conjugation by reestablishing the normal pheromone response.