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Microbiological implications of electric field effects III. Stimulation of yeast protoplast fusion by electric field pulses
Author(s) -
Weber H.,
Förster W.,
Jacob H.E.,
Berg H.
Publication year - 1981
Publication title -
zeitschrift für allgemeine mikrobiologie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.58
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1521-4028
pISSN - 0044-2208
DOI - 10.1002/jobm.19810210709
Subject(s) - protoplast , polyethylene glycol , auxotrophy , electric field , cell fusion , electroporation , yeast , complementation , biology , peg ratio , fusion , intraspecific competition , electrofusion , biophysics , chromatography , microbiology and biotechnology , materials science , biochemistry , mutant , chemistry , physics , cell , composite material , ecology , gene , linguistics , philosophy , finance , quantum mechanics , economics
Prototrophic colonies could be selected on minimal medium after mixing of protoplasts from diauxotrophic mutants of the yeasts Saccharomycopsis lipolytica and/or Lodderomyces elongisporus and treatment with polyethylene glycol (PEG) in the presence of calcium chloride. This is the result of protoplast fusion and complementation of auxotrophic deficiencies. Under identical conditions an electric field pulse in the μs‐range applied via an electric discharge to the protoplast‐PEG mixture resulted in a drastic enhancement of the protoplast fusion rate. The presence of polyethylene glycol was demonstrated to be a prerequisite for fusion in this case, too. The frequency of hybrid formation detected as prototrophic colonies could be increased in the case of intraspecific fusion at initial electric field strengths between 2.5 and 5 kV · cm −1 . The application of an electric field pulse of proper strength and duration to a yeast protoplast suspension turned out to be a more effective tool in production of fusion products than conventional methods. Large numbers of parasexual hybrids for different selection programmes in yeast genetics and for industrial purpose may be delivered by this technique.