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Ethanol Induced Stress In Yeast

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Ethanol induced stress is a common problem for cells, luckily the function of certain genes within the budding yeast Saccharomyces Cerevisiae prevent that from mortally injuring the cell. It was supposed that GUF YKL222C was one such gene. The experiment performed, if this held true was that a GUF deleted strain of the yeast would not be able to cope with the stress induced by the ethanol. Both the deleted strain and normal strains were supposed to survive under no stress, and the wild type to survive under both conditions. If the hypothesis was found to be null, then the gene deletion would function just as well under stress as the wild type.
One prominent study featuring the GUF YKL222C showed that a deleted version of this gene from the…show more content…
The cells with the GUF deleted and stress under both temperatures did not sustain a noticeable difference in survivability in comparison to the wild type. The two-way ANOVA crafted to detail the relationships (or lack thereof) between the conditions tested in [Figure 2] also proved to show no noticeable difference in survivability directly as a result of the difference in stress or temperature. The up-close microscope of each type of cell at 30C [Figure 3] showed some value. The GUF deletion under ethanol stress especially showed elongation, which can be caused by the cytoskeleton support of the cell being adversely affected. This was also observed in the wild type, but more so in the GUF…show more content…
While the results in [Figure 3] shows that the GUF deletion did not respond as perfectly as the wild type, this is not the kind of absolute reproductive and survivability failure expected if the GUF was essential for warding off ethanol induced stress. The survivability of the cell in the assay was the first indication that no catastrophic failure resulted, the ANOVA graphing supported this. The elongation is promising though, not for the hypothesis, which seems well and truly null, but for future potential experiments.
Elongation of the GUF deletion seems indicative that the loss of YKL222C's function has adversely affected the ability of the cell to maintain its shape under stress. The fact that many of the tests performed prior to the experiment seemed to show nuclear localization means that most likely the function of the gene could still be within nucleus as a transcriptional regulator, but it would appear, not in ethanol stress response. The apparent function of the GUF not only shown by the experiment by Akache et al., but also our own, would seem to doubly prove that the gene has some function in maintain the integrity of the membrane somehow (Akache B, Wu K, Turcotte B 2001). This would be an excellent starting point and proof for further experiment s as further evidence that the gene would appear to have a distinct role in maintaining the shape and integrity of the membrane, perhaps the underlying cytoskeleton
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