YEAST MODEL SYSTEM FOR STUDY OF MAMMALIAN PHOSPHODIESTERASES

Facile manipulation and rapid regeneration have helped to establish th e yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a genetic workhorse. More recently , these simple eukaryotes have been used for the biochemical analysis of mammalian proteins. This article describes the use of a yeast expre ssion system for both in vitro and in vivo assays of mammalian phospho diesterase (PDE) activity using yeast cells devoid of endogenous PDEs. It also presents simple methodologies for the analysis of the pharmac ological properties of mammalian PDEs and describes the use of a power ful genetic selection for mutant forms of PDEs with altered biochemica l and pharmacological characteristics. (C) 1998 Academic Press.