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Hereditas(Beijing) ›› 2025, Vol. 47 ›› Issue (5): 589-599.doi: 10.16288/j.yczz.24-266

• Research Article • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Screening and application of unstable genetically resistant strains in fission yeast

Lufeng Dan1,2(), Yiwen Chu1,2, Xinrong Wang1,2, Xiangwei He3()   

  1. 1. School of Pharmacy, Sichuan Industrial Institute of Antibiotics, Chengdu University, Chengdu 610106, China
    2. Antibiotic Research and Re-Evaluation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Chengdu University, Chengdu 610106, China
    3. Institute of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310000, China
  • Received:2024-10-14 Revised:2024-12-18 Online:2025-04-25 Published:2025-01-07
  • Contact: Xiangwei He E-mail:danlufeng@zju.edu.cn;1187853534@qq.com
  • Supported by:
    National Natural Science Foundation of China(32400477);Natural Science Foundation of Sichuan Province(2023NSFSC1231)

Abstract:

Reversible alterations at DNA sequence or epigenetic levels can result in phenotypes that are unstably inherited. The reversibility of these inheritable changes might be uniquely beneficial for adaption to possible fluctuations in environment. However, unstable changes are always ignored for the genetic instability in traditional studies, especially in the cause of drug resistance. In this study, we conduct a specific genetic screen in fission yeast using rapamycin (+caffeine) and obtain 173 resistant isolates. In contrast to the common strategy of isolating stable genetic mutants, we passage the cell culture with rapamycin resistance on drug free condition and test the resistance of offspring every five days, and obtain 14 strains that exhibit unstable resistance to rapamycin (the drug resistance is lost randomly among the cell progenies without drug selection pressure). Further studies show that the unstable genetic resistance of some strains is regulated by reversible DNA sequence alterationat the ssp1 gene locus. This study provides new insights and relevant scientific basis for the regulatory mechanism of unstable drug resistance in the process of rapamycin as a clinical anti-tumor drug, and a new possible target for solving the problem of drug resistance.

Key words: drug resistance, genetic instability, reversible mutation, rapamycin