title: Expression of a transposable antibiotic resistance element in Saccharomyces.
abstract: Some eukaryotic genes can be expressed in bacteria but there are few examples of the expression of prokaryotic genes in eukaryotes. Antibiotic G418 is a 2-deoxystreptamine antibiotic that is structurally related to gentamicin but has inhibitory activity against a much wider variety of pro- and eukaryotic organisms. In bacteria, resistance to G418 can be determined by several plasmid-encoded modifiying enzymes and, in view of the broad spectrum of activity of G418, we considered that this antibiotic might be useful as a selective agent for the introduction of these antibiotic resistance genes into a eukaryotic organism such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Additional impetus for these experiments came from the knowledge that certain of the G418-resistance determinants in bacteria are carried on transposable elements; a study of the properties of these elements in eukaryotes would be intriguing.
mesh_terms: D003086:Bacteriocin Plasmids; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D004274:DNA, Recombinant; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D005822:Genetic Vectors; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000235:genetics*; D012641:Selection, Genetic
chemical_list: D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D004274:DNA, Recombinant