Functional analysis of 150 deletion mutants in Saccharomyces cerevisiae by a systematic approach.

In a systematic approach to the study of Saccharomyces cerevisiae genes of unknown function, 150 deletion mutants were constructed (1 double, 149 single mutants) and phenotypically analysed. Twenty percent of all genes examined were essential. The viable deletion mutants were subjected to 20 different test systems, ranging from high throughput to highly specific test systems.

Overview of the yeast genome.

The collaboration of more than 600 scientists from over 100 laboratories to sequence the Saccharomyces cerevisiae genome was the largest decentralised experiment in modern molecular biology and resulted in a unique data resource representing the first complete set of genes from a eukaryotic organism. 12 million bases were sequenced in a truly international effort involving European, US, Canadian and Japanese laboratories. While the yeast genome represents only a small fraction of the information in today's public sequence databases, the complete, ordered and non-redundant sequence provides an invaluable resource for the detailed analysis of cellular gene function and genome architecture.