Starvation in yeast increases non-adaptive mutation

Abstract

The frequency of reversion in a histidine-requiring mutant of Saccharomyces cerevisiae increases about ten-fold in stationary cells during histidine starvation. Histidine starvation enhances a similar frequency of reversion in a tryptophan-requiring mutant. Starvation, therefore, enhances mutation frequencies in a non-adaptive manner. The base analogue 6-N-hydroxylaminopurine (HAP) added prior to plating on medium with limited histidine strongly increases reversion of the histidine mutant. HAP-induced reversion increases further in stationary starving cells with the same kinetics as that which increases spontaneous reversion. Adding HAP to the stationary starving cells does not produce any effect.