Yeast (Saccharomyces Cerevisiae): Difference between revisions

When researchers look for an organism to use in their studies, they look for several traits. Among these are size, generation time, accessibility, manipulation, genetics, conservation of mechanisms, and potential economic benefit. The yeast species ''S. pombe'' and ''S. cerevisiae'' are both well studied; these two species diverged approximately 600 to 300 million years ago, and are significant tools in the study of DNA damage and repair mechanisms.<ref>{{cite book |first1= Jac A. |last1=Nickoloff |first2=James E. |last2=Haber |date=2011 |chapter=Mating-Type Control of DNA Repair and Recombination in ''Saccharomyces cerevisiae'' |doi=10.1007/978-1-59259-095-7_5 |pages=107–124 |editor1-first=Jac A. |editor1-last=Nickoloff |editor2-first=Merl F. |editor2-last=Hoekstra |title=DNA Damage and Repair |series=Contemporary Cancer Research |isbn=978-1-59259-095-7|doi-broken-date=1 August 2023 | chapter-url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-59259-095-7_5}}</ref>

* As a single-cell organism, ''S. cerevisiae'' is small with a short generation time (doubling time 1.25–2 hours<ref>{{cite book |editor=Boekhout, T. |editor2=Robert, V. |date=2003 |title=Yeasts in Food: Beneficial and Detrimental aspects |publisher=Behr's Verlag |isbn=978-3-86022-961-3 |page=322 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GG-60Vtl81EC |access-date=January 10, 2011}}</ref> at {{convert|30|C|F|disp=or}}) and can be easily cultured. These are all positive characteristics in that they allow for the swift production and maintenance of multiple specimen lines at low cost.

* ''S. cerevisiae'' can be transformed allowing for either the addition of new genes or deletion through homologous recombination. Furthermore, the ability to grow ''S.&nbsp;cerevisiae'' as a haploid simplifies the creation of gene knockout strains.

* As a eukaryote, ''S.&nbsp;cerevisiae'' shares the complex internal cell structure of plants and animals without the high percentage of non-coding DNA that can confound research in higher eukaryotes.