Synthetic hybrids of six yeast species

David Peris, William G. Alexander, Kaitlin J. Fisher, Ryan V. Moriarty, Mira G. Basuino, Emily J. Ubbelohde, Russell L. Wrobel, Chris Todd Hittinger

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

35 Scopus citations

Abstract

Allopolyploidy generates diversity by increasing the number of copies and sources of chromosomes. Many of the best-known evolutionary radiations, crops, and industrial organisms are ancient or recent allopolyploids. Allopolyploidy promotes differentiation and facilitates adaptation to new environments, but the tools to test its limits are lacking. Here we develop an iterative method of Hybrid Production (iHyPr) to combine the genomes of multiple budding yeast species, generating Saccharomyces allopolyploids of at least six species. When making synthetic hybrids, chromosomal instability and cell size increase dramatically as additional copies of the genome are added. The six-species hybrids initially grow slowly, but they rapidly regain fitness and adapt, even as they retain traits from multiple species. These new synthetic yeast hybrids and the iHyPr method have potential applications for the study of polyploidy, genome stability, chromosome segregation, and bioenergy.

Original languageEnglish
Article number2085
JournalNature Communications
Volume11
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 1 2020
Externally publishedYes

Funding

We thank Trey K. Sato for providing GLBRCY101, Srivatsan Raman for flow cytometry access, Amanda B. Hulfachor for assistance with Fig. 5b, the Joint Genome Institute (JGI) for providing Illumina Sequencing services, and Miguel Morard for feedback on preliminary figures. This material is based upon work supported in part by the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Biological and Environmental Research under Award Numbers DE-SC0018409 and DE-FC02-07ER64494; the National Science Foundation under Grant Number DEB-1253634; the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture Hatch Project Number 1020204; and the Robert Draper Technology Innovation Fund from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF). D.P. is a Marie Sklodowska-Curie fellow of the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, grant agreement No. 747775. K.J.F. is a Morgridge Metabolism Interdisciplinary Fellow of the Morgridge Institute for Research. C.T.H. is a Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences, a Vilas Early Career Investigator, and a H. I. Romnes Faculty Fellow, supported by the Pew Charitable Trusts, Vilas Trust Estate, and Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education with funding from WARF, respectively. The work conducted by the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, a DOE Office of Science User Facility, is supported under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231.

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