An Enrichment Method for Auxotrophic Yeast Mutants using the Antibiotic ‘Nystatin’

Abstract

ENRICHMENT methods have greatly facilitated the work of geneticists in obtaining desired mutants. The various methods in use depend on the selective removal or killing of growing cells relative to non-growing mutants. Moat et al.¹ showed that several antifungal agents could be used with yeast to increase the proportion of mutant survivors in artificial mixtures of mutant and wild-type cells. Although ‘Nystatin’ was not so effective as ‘Endomycin’ or ‘Amphotericin B’ in their experiments, it seemed a desirable antibiotic with which to undertake further work, as a great deal is known about the physiology of its action on yeast^2–4 and especially as it had been reported that actively metabolizing cells take up much more of it than glucose-starved cells⁵.