Some of the swi genes of Schizosaccharomyces pombe also have a function in the repair of radiation damage

Summary

In Schizosaccharomyces pombe the frequency of mating-type (MT) switching is reduced by mutations in the swi genes. The ten hitherto known swi genes can be subdivided into three classes: Ia, Ib and II. Strains having swi5 (class Ib), swi9 (class II) and swi10 (class II) mutations do not only show reduced MT switching, but also exhibit an increased sensitivity to UV- and γ-rays. For that reason, 19 previously described rad genes were tested for their effect on MT switching. We found that swi9, “rad10”, “rad16” and “rad20” are allelic with each other indicating that the former allocation of these rad mutations to three different genes must have been erroneous. Among the remaining 16 rad genes examined, rad22 seems to be a new class II swi gene. The double mutants swi5 swi9 and swi5 swi10, but not swi9 swi10, are much more sensitive to radiation than the respective single mutants. Thus a cumulative increase in sensitivity occurs only if the mutants belong to different classes; previously the same correlation was found with regard to cumulative effects in MT switching.