Selection and analysis of spontaneous reciprocal mitotic cross-overs in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

We developed a system that allows the selection of the reciprocal products resulting from spontaneous mitotic cross-overs in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. A number of other types of genetic events, including chromosome loss, can be monitored with this system. For a 120-kb chromosome interval on chromosome V (CEN5-CAN1), the rate of mitotic cross-overs was 4x10(-5) per division, a rate approximately 25,000-fold lower than the meiotic rate of cross-overs. We found no suppression of mitotic cross-overs near the centromere of chromosome V, unlike the suppression observed for meiotic exchanges. The rate of reciprocal cross-overs was substantially (38-fold) elevated by treatment of cells with hydroxyurea, a drug that reduces nucleotide pools and slows DNA replication.