Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

[24] Transformation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae mitochondria using the biolistic gun

1996; Academic Press; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/s0076-6879(96)64026-9

1557-7988

Ronald A. Butow, R. Michael Henke, John V. Moran, Scott M. Belcher, Philip S. Perlman,

RNA and protein synthesis mechanisms

Publisher Summary This chapter summarizes the basic techniques of biolistic transformation used in the laboratory and describes some applications of the procedure not only for the analysis of mitochondrial genes, but also as a means of exploring other features of mitochondrial biology. The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been the premier organism for the combined forward and reverse genetic analysis of nuclear gene organization, function, and expression. The ease with which defined DNA sequences can be introduced into yeast cells and maintained episomally or directed into defined sites on yeast chromosomes, provides an extraordinarily tractable system for such studies. Such studies benefit from the dispensability of a functional organelle when cells are grown on fermentable carbon sources so that mutations of nuclear or mitochondrial genes interfering with mitochondrial function can be isolated and studied using the full range of yeast genetics methods. As mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is inherited biparentally in yeast crosses, unlike the uniparental or maternal inheritance observed in most other eukaryotes, direct genetic studies of mitochondrial genes can be carried out.