SELECTION OF POLARIZED GROWTH SITES IN YEAST

The budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae responds to intracellular a nd extracellular cues to direct cell growth. Genetic analysis has reve aled many components that participate in this process and has provided insight into the mechanisms by which these proteins function. Several of these components, such as the septins, pheromone receptors and GTP ase proteins, have homologues in multicellular eukaryotes, suggesting that many aspects of polarized cell growth may be conserved throughout evolution. This review discusses our current understanding of the mol ecular mechanisms of growth-site selection during the different stages of the yeast life cycle.