ISOLATION OF AUTOPHAGOCYTOSIS MUTANTS OF SACCHAROMYCES-CEREVISIAE

Protein degradation in the vacuole (lysosome) is an important event in cellular regulation. In yeast, as in mammalian cells, a major route o f protein uptake for degradation into the vacuole (lysosome) has been found to be autophagocytosis. The discovery of this process in yeast e nables the elucidation of its mechanisms via genetic and molecular bio logical investigations. Here we report the isolation of yeast mutants defective in autophagocytosis (aut mutants), using a rapid colony scre ening procedure.