Manipulation of morphological transition in Saccharomyces cerevisiae mutant J19

Saccharomyces cerevisiae has the potential for morphological differentiation. In order to positively utilize the morphological transition of S. cerevisiae for the separation of cells from culture broth, the cell settling of mutant J19 having pseudohyphal form was examined. Mutant cells settled faster in stationary test tubes than those of the parental strain having yeast-like form. Furthermore, in an attempt to establish a basis for manipulation of the morphological transition between the yeast-like and pseudohyphal forms, a plasmid harboring the SCL1 gene under the control of the GAL1 promoter was constructed. The SCL1 gene complements the morphological phenotype of mutant J19. The plasmid was transformed into mutant J19, and the morphological transition of the transformant by changes in carbon source was examined. It was found that partial manipulation of the morphological transition was possible.