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Heroic Efforts to save Yeast cells. Or not.
When scientists compare human and yeast DNA, and look at their genomes they can recognize thousands of genes shared between humans and yeast. But molecular biologist Edward Marcotte of the University of Texas at Austin wanted to to test just how similar the sequences were. Could human genes be used to replace othhologous genes in yeast?
The team chose test genes based on two criteria: that the yeast version of the gene was present in a single copy and that it served a function critical to yeast cell survival. Using yeast strains in which these critical genes could be turned off at will, the team tested whether transfer of the equivalent, or orthologous, human gene could save the yeast from death
Well, it turns out that a large number of human genes can substitute for their defective counterparts in yeast and prevent the microorganisms from dying. Forty-three percent of the 414 gene replacements the team performed could indeed rescue the yeasts’ growth defects.
Humans giving up their own DNA to save yeast cells!?
Not so fast. There are ulterior motives at play here. After all, we're humans. We have motives.
According to Madan Babu of the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology in the U.K., The results could have significant implications for medical research.
“In the human population you have many individuals that carry single nucleotide polymorphisms and it is almost impossible to test what is the effect of [certain drugs on] these. But, if the protein can be swapped into yeast cells, then “I could put in a hundred different variants of the human ortholog and, for example, I could rapidly screen whether they are sensitive to the presence of this or that drug.”
Reported in The Scientist [the-scientist.com]
