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Yeast as a Model System for Modern Cell Biology

S. Forsburg. Molecular and Computational Biology Section, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA

   Yeast is a general term that spans a diverse range of unicellular  fungi.   Two species in particular, the brewer's yeast Saccharomyces  cerevisiae, and the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe, are  popular model organisms for problems ranging from cell polarity to  cell division control to chromosome structure and function.   They  have provided immense insights into  fundamental cellular mechanisms.  Although both are genetically tractable with outstanding molecular  tools, including sequenced genomes,  they are extremely diverged from  one another ,  providing complementary strengths for different  biological problems.