Defining the epigenetic mechanism of asymmetric cell division of Schizosaccharomyces japonicus yeast.

ABSTRACT: A key question in developmental biology addresses the mechanism of asymmetric cell division. Asymmetry is crucial for generating cellular diversity required for development in multicellular organisms. As one of the potential mechanisms, chromosomally borne epigenetic difference between sister cells that changes mating/cell type has been demonstrated only in the Schizosaccharomyces pombe fission yeast. For technical reasons, it is nearly impossible to determine the existence of such a mechanism operating during embryonic development of multicellular organisms. Our work addresses whether such an epigenetic mechanism causes asymmetric cell division in the recently sequenced fission yeast, S. japonicus (with 36% GC content), which is highly diverged from the well-studied S. pombe species (with

SUBMITTER: Yu C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3527257 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature