Yeast DNA plasmids.

The study of yeast DNA plasmids has been initiated with the discovery of the 2-micron DNA in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. This multiple copy plasmid, organized into chromatin structure in vivo, probably exists in the nucleus and provides a good system to obtain information on eukaryotic DNA replication. Yeast transformation with the 2-micron DNA or artificially constructed chimeric plasmids had contributed significantly to the study of the molecular biology of yeast and eukaryotes, allowing the isolation and characterization of various genes, ars, centromeres, and telomeres, and also serving as a tool to study the expression of various heterologous genes. Encouraged by these fruitful results, new yeast plasmids have been screened among phylogenetically distant yeasts. The linear DNA plasmids (pGKl1 and pGKl2) from Kluyveromyces lactis are the first case of yeast plasmids associated with biological function (killer phenotype). This plasmid system would be ideal as a model to study the structure and function of eukaryotic linear chromosomes. The extracellular secretion of protein toxin suggests the plasmids to be an excellent candidate for a secretion vector. The importance of yeasts as suitable materials for the study of eukaryotic cell biology would be much enhanced by the advent of new transformation systems with diverse host yeasts of genetically and phylogenetically distinct properties.