title: Higher-accuracy method for measuring minichromosome stability in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
abstract: The minichromosome maintenance assay isfrequently used to characterize mutations genetically that affect the initiation of DNA replication or to decipherfunctional components in autonomously replicating sequences. The assay determines minichromosome loss by measuring the percentage of plasmid-containing cells in cultures after a period of growth in nonselective medium. Here we analyze data acquisition errors that contribute to the low accuracy of the routine versions of the assay. We propose modifications that eliminate errors in the acquisition of two variables and significantly improve the accuracy of the assay.
authors.affiliation: University of Guelph, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: David J H
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Kramer
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gauthier
authors.forename: Krassimir
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yankulov
mesh_terms: D015825:Chromosomes, Fungal / Q000235:genetics*; D004261:DNA Replication / Q000235:genetics; D016014:Linear Models; D008967:Molecular Biology / Q000379:methods*; D010957:Plasmids / Q000235:genetics*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000235:genetics*