Saccharomyces cerevisiae.WIKIMEDIA COMMONS, MASUR
Gaining or losing a chromosome, a condition known as aneuploidy, is often caused by stress, and is known to have detrimental consequences, including a variety of human diseases. But according to new research in yeast published online today (January 30) in Nature, stress-induced aneuploidy may also help organisms adapt, conferring an adaptive advantage to yeast cells in the face of continued stress.
“It’s in interesting study,” said Judith Berman, a molecular geneticist at the University of Minnesota who was not involved in the research. Berman’s own work in Candida albicans yeast supports the idea that aneuploidy has adaptive functions, she said, and the new study highlights aneuploidy’s underappreciated role in generating genetic and phenotypic diversity.
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