Yeast as a Model for Human Diseases

Yeasts are single-celled eukaryotes that provide a genetically and biochemically amenable model system for biomedical research. Over the past decades, studies in yeast have established a foundation for much of our current knowledge on such fundamental processes as eukaryotic cell cycle control, genetic instability and colon cancer, metabolism and metabolic disease and even aging. Through basic science and pharmaceutical applications, studies in yeast hold promise for even greater contributions in the future.

Keywords: yeast; saccharomyces cerevisiae; human genetics; model systems; mutations

 References
    Bodnar AG, Ouellette M, Frolkis M, et al. (1998) Extension of life-span by introduction of telomerase into normal human cells. Science 279: 349–352.
    Botstein D, Chervitz SA and Cherry JM (1997) Genetics: yeast as a model organism. Science 277: 1259–1260.
    Fishel RA, Lescoe MK, Rao MRS, et al. (1993) The human mutator gene homolog MSH2 and its association with hereditary nonpolyposis colon cancer. Cell 75: 1027–1038.
    book Guthrie C and Fink G (eds.) (1991) Guide to Yeast Genetics and Molecular Biology. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
    Hayflick L (1980) Cell aging. Annual Review of Gerontology and Geriatrics 1: 26–67.
    Hutchinson E (2001) Alfred Knudson and his two-hit hypothesis (interview of Alfred Knudson by Ezzie Hutchinson). Lancet Oncology 2: 642–645.
    Jazwinski SM (2001) New clues to old yeast. Mechanisms of Ageing and Development 122: 865–882.
    Johnson FB, Marciniak RA, McVey M, et al. (2001) The Saccharomyces cerevisiae WRN homolog Sgs1p participates in telomere maintenance in cells lacking telomerase. EMBO Journal 20: 905–913.
    Keith NW, Evans JTR and Glasspool RM (2001) Telomerase and cancer: time to move from a promising target to a clinical reality. Journal of Pathology 195: 404–414.
    Kolodner RD and Alani E (1994) Mismatch repair and cancer susceptibility. Current Opinion in Biotechnology 5: 585–594.
    Kumar A and Snyder M (2002) Protein complexes take the bait. Nature 415: 123–124.
    Leach FS, Nicolaides NC, Papadopoulos N, et al. (1993) Mutations of a mutS homolog in hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer. Cell 75: 1215–1225.
    Lee MG and Nurse P (1987) Complementation used to clone a human homolog of the fission yeast cell cycle control gene cdc2. Nature 327: 31–35.
    Lundblad V and Szostak JW (1989) A mutant with a defect in telomere elongation leads to senescence in yeast. Cell 57: 633–643.
    Ma D (2001) Applications of yeast in drug discovery. Progress in Drug Research 57: 117–162.
    Nurse P (2000) A long twentieth century of the cell cycle and beyond. Cell 100: 71–78.
    Oullette MM, McDaniel LD, Wright WE, Shay JW and Schultz RA (2000) The establishment of telomerase-immortalized cell lines representing human chromosome instability syndromes. Human Molecular Genetics 9: 403–411.
 Further Reading
    book Adams A, Gottschling DE, Kaiser CA and Stearns T (1997) Methods in Yeast Genetics. Plainview, NY: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.
    book Broach JR, Pringle JR and Jones EW (1991) The Molecular and Cellular Biology of the Yeast Saccharomyces, vol. 1, Genome Dynamics, Protein Synthesis and Energetics Plainview, NY: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.
    book Jones EW, Pringle JR and Broach JR (1992) The Molecular and Cellular Biology of the Yeast Saccharomyces, vol. 2, Gene Expression Plainview, NY: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.
    book Pringle JR, Broach JR and Jones EW (1997) The Molecular and Cellular Biology of the Yeast Saccharomyces, vol. 3, Cell Cycle and Cell Biology Plainview, NY: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.
 Web Links
    ePath Saccharomyces Genome Database (SGD). This is a scientific database of the molecular biology and genetics of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae http://genome-www.stanford.edu/Saccharomyces/
    ePath The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute: the S. pombe Genome Project. A useful resource for S. pombe genome project data as well as other tools and links http://www.sanger.ac.uk/Projects/S_pombe/
    ePath mutL homolog 1, colon cancer, nonpolyposis type 2 (E. coli) (MLH1). A resource for molecular biology and clinical information concerning MLH1; Locus ID: 4292. LocusLink: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/LocusLink/LocRpt.cgi?l=4292
    ePath mutS homolog 2, colon cancer, nonpolyposis type 1 (E. coli) (MSH2). A resource for molecular biology and clinical information concerning MSH2; Locus ID: 4436. LocusLink: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/LocusLink/LocRpt.cgi?l=4436
    ePath Werner syndrome (WRN); A resource for molecular biology and clinical information concerning WRN; Locus ID: 7486. LocusLink: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/LocusLink/LocRpt.cgi?l=7486
    ePath mutL homolog 1, colon cancer, nonpolyposis type 2 (E. coli) (MLH1). Information on hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC type 2); MIM number: 120436. OMIM: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/htbin-post/Omim/dispmim?120436
    ePath mutS homolog 2, colon cancer, nonpolyposis type 1 (E. coli) (MSH2). Information on hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC type 1); MIM number: 120435. OMIM: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/htbin-post/Omim/dispmim?120435
    ePath Werner syndrome (WRN). Information on the WRN gene and encoded gene product; MIM number: 604611. OMIM: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/htbin-post/Omim/dispmim?604611
Contact Editor close
Submit a note to the editor about this article by filling in the form below.

* Required Field

How to Cite close
Fridovich‐Keil, Judith L(Jan 2006) Yeast as a Model for Human Diseases. In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net [doi: 10.1038/npg.els.0005581]