A galactose-dependent cmd1 mutant of Saccharomyces cerevisiae: involvement of calmodulin in nuclear division.

The coding region of a yeast calmodulin gene was fused to a galactose-inducible GAL1 promoter, and a conditional-lethal mutant of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, in which the expression of calmodulin was regulated by galactose, was constructed. The mutant grew normally in galactose medium, but in glucose medium, in which the promoter was repressed, it ceased growing after 12-15 h. The growth arrest was associated with a decrease in intracellular calmodulin levels: after 12 h, no intracellular calmodulin protein was detectable. Analysis of the terminal phenotype showed that when the cell stopped growing, it had a bud, a nucleus after S-phase and a short mitotic spindle. Thus, the defect was mainly in nuclear division. Bud growth was partially inhibited in these cells: 27% of the cells stopped growing with a small bud. Furthermore, calmodulin-deficient cells showed elevated rates of chromosome loss, possibly as the result of a defect in the precise segregation of chromosomes.