Rjd. Reid et al., YEAST AS A MODEL ORGANISM FOR STUDYING THE ACTIONS OF DNA TOPOISOMERASE-TARGETED DRUGS, Biochimica et biophysica acta, N. Gene structure and expression, 1400(1-3), 1998, pp. 289-300
The budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been exploited to inves
tigate the cytotoxic mechanisms of drugs that target DNA topoisomerase
s. This model organism has been used to establish eukaryotic DNA topoi
somerase I or II as the cellular target of specific antineoplastic age
nts, to define mutations in these enzymes that confer drug resistance
and to elucidate the cellular factors that modulate cell sensitivity t
o DNA topoisomerase-targeted drugs. These findings have provided valua
ble insights into the critical activities of these enzymes and how per
turbing their functions produces DNA damage and cell death. 0167-4781/
98/$ - see front matter (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights rese
rved.