Killer system interactions

Over the last few years, our concept of yeasts has changed vastly. Once thought of as “E coli. with a nucleus,”1 these organisms currently represent cells of universal use by modern molecular biologists. Retroviral elements, ubiquitin, calmodulin, actin, and tubulin are only some of the many biological elements that are being investigated in yeast cells. Ras-related genes, strongly implicated in the transformation of normal mammalian to cancer cells,2 have also been discovered in yeasts, opening the way for exciting new cytological, biochemical, and experimental genetic strategies that were impossible to carry out in animal cells.