The structural gene for yeast DNA topoisomerase I (TOP)) has been cloned from two yeast genomic plasmid banks. Integration of a plasmid carrying the gene into the chromosome and subsequent genetic mapping shows that TOPI is identical to the gene previously called MAKI. Seven top) (maki) mutants including gene disruptions are viable, demonstrating that DNA topoisomerase I is not essential for viability in yeast. A 3787-base-pair DNA fragment including the gene has been sequenced. The protein predicted from the DNA sequence has 769 amino acids and a molecular weight of90,020.
MATERIALS AND METHODSEscherichia coli Strains and Media. E. coli K-12 strain JA221 trpES leuB6 lacY recA thi hsdR was used for plastnid propagation. It was grown in L broth (4) with 50 ,jg of ampicillin per ml. Strain JA194 trpC leuB grown on M9 medium (4) supplemented with 5 ,g of tryptophan per ml and 50 pug of ampicillin per ml was used to screen for LEU2 plasmids; the yeast LEU2 gene complements the E. coli leuB mutation. Plasmids were prepared by an alkaline lysis protocol (4).Yeast Strains and Media. The following S. cerevisiae strains were used: CT552: MATa ura 3-52 his3 his7 leu2-3,112 trpl ade2-101 can]; SD2a: MATa ade2 ura3 leu2 his3 trpl canl topl-I (makl-l) top2-1; SD2c: MATa ade2 ura3 his3 his7 leu2 can] topl-l; CT553: MATa leu2 lysll his] ura3 trpl pet] 7; the diploid CT554 MATa/a leu2/leu2 trpl/+ lys]l /+ pet]7/+ hisl/+ adel/+ ura3/+. All the above strains were constructed in this laboratory using strains described previously (1, 2). Other yeast strains used include 6287-20B: MATa karl-i leu2 from F. Winston (5); 418D:cir0 MATa leu2 his from J. Broach; and A364A: MATa adel ade2 ural his7, lys2 tyri gall (KIL-o). Three new top] alleles created by gene disruptions are described in the text. The topl-6 allele contains the inserted LEU2 gene, the topl-7 allele contains deletion 1447-2295 as well as the LEU2 insertion, and the topl-8 allele contains deletion 580-1446 as well as the LEU2 insertion.Standard genetic methods and growth media were used (6). Transformation was by the spheroplast method (6). Two yeast genomic libraries were used, one was cloned in YCp5O, provided by M. Rose and G. Fink, and the other was cloned in YEp13 (7). DNA Topoisomerase I Assays. A method was developed by S. DiNardo of this laboratory whereby individual yeast colonies could be assayed directly for topoisomerase I activity without growth in liquid medium. A colony was scraped from a plate, resuspended in 30 ,ul of SED (1 M sorbitol/25 mM EDTA/50 mM dithiothreitol), and incubated at 370C for 30 min. Four microliters of zymolyase 60,000 (2.5 mg/ml) (Miles) was added. Cells were incubated at 30TC for 30 min. Spheroplasts were pelleted in a desktop centrifuge, resuspended in 12 ,ul of yeast lysis buffer (2), and kept on ice for 30 min. After a 10-min centrifugation, 1 gl of the supernatant could be assayed in a 10-,ul reaction mixture as described (1).Extracts for determining yeast topoisomerase I activity in E. coli were prepared by growing 20-m...