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Drug resistance is a consequence of how most modern medicines work. Drugs exert pressure on cells that causes death or the evolution of resistance. Indeed, highly specific drugs are rendered ineffective by a single DNA mutation. In this study, we apply the drug methotrexate, which is widely used in cancer and rheumatoid arthritis, and perform evolution experiments on Baker’s yeast to ask the different ways in which cells become drug resistant. Because of the conserved nature of biological pathways between yeast and man, our results can inform how the same mechanism may operate to render human cells resistant to treatment. Exposure of cells to small molecules and drug therapies imposes a strong selective pressure. As a result, cells rapidly acquire mutations in order to survive. These include resistant variants of the drug target as well as those that modulate drug transport and detoxification. To systematically explore how cells acquire drug resistance in an unbiased manner, rapid cost-effective approaches are required. Methotrexate, as one of the first rationally designed anticancer drugs, has served as a prototypic example of such acquired resistance. Known methotrexate resistance mechanisms include mutations that increase expression of the dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) target as well as those that maintain function yet reduce the drug’s binding affinity. Recent evidence suggests that target-independent, epistatic mutations can also result in resistance to methotrexate. Currently, however, the relative contribution of such unlinked resistance mutations is not well understood. To address this issue, we took advantage of Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a model eukaryotic system that combined with whole-genome sequencing and a rapid screening methodology, allowed the identification of causative mutations that modulate resistance to methotrexate. We found a recurrent missense mutation in SEC21 (orthologous to human COPG1), which we confirmed in 10 de novo methotrexate-resistant strains. This sec21 allele (S96L) behaves as a recessive, gain-of-function allele, conferring methotrexate resistance that is abrogated by the presence of a wild-type copy of SEC21. These observations indicate that the Sec21p/COPI transport complex has previously uncharacterized roles in modulating methotrexate stress.

The Yeast Knockout (YKO) collection has provided a wealth of functional annotations from genome-wide screens. An unintended consequence is that 76% of gene annotations derive from one genotype. The nutritional auxotrophies in the YKO, in particular, have phenotypic consequences. To address this issue, ‘prototrophic’ versions of the YKO collection have been constructed, either by introducing a plasmid carrying wild-type copies of the auxotrophic markers (Plasmid-Borne, PBprot) or by backcrossing (Backcrossed, BCprot) to a wild-type strain. To systematically assess the impact of the auxotrophies, genome-wide fitness profiles of prototrophic and auxotrophic collections were compared across diverse drug and environmental conditions in 250 experiments. Our quantitative profiles uncovered broad impacts of genotype on phenotype for three deletion collections, and revealed genotypic and strain-construction-specific phenotypes. The PBprot collection exhibited fitness defects associated with plasmid maintenance, while BCprot fitness profiles were compromised due to strain loss from nutrient selection steps during strain construction. The repaired prototrophic versions of the YKO collection did not restore wild-type behaviour nor did they clarify gaps in gene annotation resulting from the auxotrophic background. To remove marker bias and expand the experimental scope of deletion libraries, construction of a bona fide prototrophic collection from a wild-type strain will be required.

The lack of new anthelmintic agents is of growing concern because it affects human health and our food supply, as both livestock and plants are affected. Two principal factors contribute to this problem. First, nematode resistance to anthelmintic drugs is increasing worldwide and second, many effective nematicides pose environmental hazards. In this paper we address this problem by deploying a high throughput screening platform for anthelmintic drug discovery using the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans as a surrogate for infectious nematodes. This method offers the possibility of identifying new anthelmintics in a cost-effective and timely manner.Using our high throughput screening platform we have identified 14 new potential anthelmintics by screening more than 26,000 compounds from the Chembridge and Maybridge chemical libraries. Using phylogenetic profiling we identified a subset of the 14 compounds as potential anthelmintics based on the relative sensitivity of C. elegans when compared to yeast and mammalian cells in culture. We showed that a subset of these compounds might employ mechanisms distinct from currently used anthelmintics by testing diverse drug resistant strains of C. elegans. One of these newly identified compounds targets mitochondrial complex II, and we used structural analysis of the target to suggest how differential binding of this compound may account for its different effects in nematodes versus mammalian cells.The challenge of anthelmintic drug discovery is exacerbated by several factors; including, 1) the biochemical similarity between host and parasite genomes, 2) the geographic location of parasitic nematodes and 3) the rapid development of resistance. Accordingly, an approach that can screen large compound collections rapidly is required. C. elegans as a surrogate parasite offers the ability to screen compounds rapidly and, equally importantly, with specificity, thus reducing the potential toxicity of these compounds to the host and the environment. We believe this approach will help to replenish the pipeline of potential nematicides.

Lichen-forming fungi and extracts derived from them have been used as alternative medicine sources for millennia and recently there has been a renewed interest in their known bioactive properties for anticancer agents, cosmetics and antibiotics. Although lichen-forming fungus-derived compounds are biologically and commercially valuable, few studies have been performed to determine their modes of action. This study used chemical-genetic and chemogenomic high-throughput analyses to gain insight into the modes of action of Caloplaca flavoruscens extracts. High-throughput screening of 575 lichen extracts was performed and 39 extracts were identified which inhibited yeast growth. A C. flavoruscens extract was selected as a promising antifungal and was subjected to genome-wide haploinsufficiency profiling and homozygous profiling assays. These screens revealed that yeast deletion strains lacking Rsc8, Prol and Toa2 were sensitive to three concentrations (IC25.5, IC25 and IC50, respectively) of C. flavoruscens extract. Gene-enrichment analysis of the data showed that C. flavoruscens extracts appear to perturb transcription and chromatin remodeling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]