Mitochondrial inheritance in budding yeast

During the past decade significant advances were made toward understanding the mechanism of mitochondrial inheritance in the yeast Saccharomyces cerev isiae. A combination of genetics, cell-free assays and microscopy has led t o the discovery of a great number of components. These fall into three majo r categories: cytoskeletal elements, mitochondrial membrane components and regulatory proteins. These proteins mediate activities, including movement of mitochondria from mother cells to buds, segregation of mitochondria and mitochondrial DNA, and equal distribution of the organelle between mother c ells and buds during yeast cell division.