RT Journal
A1 Pérez-Ortı́n, José E.
A1 Querol, Amparo
A1 Puig, Sergi
A1 Barrio, Eladio
T1 Molecular Characterization of a Chromosomal Rearrangement Involved in the Adaptive Evolution of Yeast Strains
JF Genome Research 
JO Genome Research 
YR 2002 
FD October 01 
VO 12 
IS 10 
SP 1533 
OP 1539 
DO 10.1101/gr.436602 
UL http://genome.cshlp.org/content/12/10/1533.abstract 
AB Wine yeast strains show a high level of chromosome length polymorphism. This polymorphism is mainly generated by illegitimate recombination mediated by Ty transposons or subtelomeric repeated sequences. We have found, however, that the SSU1-R allele, which confers sulfite resistance to yeast cells, is the product of a reciprocal translocation between chromosomes VIII and XVI due to unequal crossing-over mediated by microhomology between very short sequences on the 5′ upstream regions of the SSU1 andECM34 genes. We also show that this translocation is only present in wine yeast strains, suggesting that the use for millennia of sulfite as a preservative in wine production could have favored its selection. This is the first time that a gross chromosomal rearrangement is shown to be involved in the adaptive evolution ofSaccharomyces cerevisiae.[The sequence data from this study have been submitted to EMBL under accession nos. AF239757,AF239758, and AJ458340–AJ458367. The following individual kindly provided reagents, samples, or unpublished information as indicated in the paper: N. Goto-Yamamoto.]