Temperature effects on the rate of ty transposition.

An assay has been developed to measure the rate of transposition of the transposable element Ty in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The assay is based on the altered expression of the glucose-repressible alcohol dehydrogenase gene of yeast upon insertion of a Ty in front of this gene. By this assay the transposition rate of Ty elements was found to increase approximately 100-fold at temperatures lower than 30 degrees C, the optimum growth temperature for Saccharomyces cerevisiae.