Ribosomal precursor RNA metabolism and cell division in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Abstract

When shifted from 23 degrees C to 36 degrees C, cells of a non-temperature-sensitive strain of yeast arrest transiently in G1 before continuation of the cell division cycle. When shifted to 36 degrees C, cells harboring a temperature-sensitive rna mutation behave similarly. Others have shown that temperature shift transiently decreases the rates of production and processing of ribosomal precursor RNA (rpreRNA). Production of rpreRNA is soon restored to normal levels in these strains, but normal processing of these repreRNA transcripts is restored only in non-temperature-sensitive strains. Therefore these experiments serve to eliminate from cell cycle considerations the involvement of processing of rpreRNA, while maintaining the established correlation between cell cycle behavior and rpreRNA production.