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Molecular and Cellular Biology, January 1999, p. 241-250, Vol. 19, No. 1
0270-7306/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

The msh2 Gene of Schizosaccharomyces pombe Is Involved in Mismatch Repair, Mating-Type Switching, and Meiotic Chromosome Organization

Claudia Rudolph,1 Christophe Kunz,1 Sandro Parisi,1 Elisabeth Lehmann,1 Edgar Hartsuiker,1 Berthold Fartmann,2 Wilfried Kramer,2 Jürg Kohli,1 and Oliver Fleck1,*

Institute of General Microbiology, University of Bern, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland,1 and Institute of Molecular Genetics, Georg August University Göttingen, D-37077 Göttingen, Germany2

Received 25 June 1998/Returned for modification 4 August 1998/Accepted 9 October 1998

We have identified in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe a MutS homolog that shows highest homology to the Msh2 subgroup. msh2 disruption gives rise to increased mitotic mutation rates and increased levels of postmeiotic segregation of genetic markers. In bandshift assays performed with msh2Delta cell extracts, a general mismatch-binding activity is absent. By complementation assays, we showed that S. pombe msh2 is allelic with the previously identified swi8 and mut3 genes, which are involved in mating-type switching. The swi8-137 mutant has a mutation in the msh2 gene which causes a truncated Msh2 peptide lacking a putative DNA-binding domain. Cytological analysis revealed that during meiotic prophase of msh2-defective cells, chromosomal structures were frequently formed; such structures are rarely found in the wild type. Our data show that besides having a function in mismatch repair, S. pombe msh2 is required for correct termination of copy synthesis during mating-type switching as well as for proper organization of chromosomes during meiosis.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Institute of General Microbiology, University of Bern, Baltzerstrasse 4, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland. Phone: (41) 31 631 4656. Fax: (41) 31 631 4684. E-mail: fleck{at}imb.unibe.ch.

Molecular and Cellular Biology, January 1999, p. 241-250, Vol. 19, No. 1
0270-7306/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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