Versatile use of Schizosaccharomyces pombe plasmids in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The two model yeasts Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Schizosaccharomyces pombe appear to have diverged 1000 million years ago. Here, we describe that S. pombe vectors can be propagated efficiently in S. cerevisiae as pUR19 derivatives, and the pREP and pJR vector series carrying the S. cerevisiae LEU2 or the S. pombe ura4(+) selection marker are maintained in S. cerevisiae cells. In addition, genes transcribed from the S. pombe nmt1(+) promoter and derivatives are expressed in budding yeast. Thus, S. pombe vectors can be used as shuttle vectors in S. cerevisiae and S. pombe. Our finding greatly facilitates the testing for functional orthologs of protein families and simplifies the cloning of new S. pombe plasmids by using the highly efficient in vivo homologous recombination activity of S. cerevisiae.