Chromosome instability in yeast and its implications to the study of human cancer

Abstract

One of the most important events during cell division is chromosome segregation, which allows that each daughter cell receives one set of duplicated chromosomes. Any mistakes in chromosome segregation process will result in loss or gain of chromosomes after mitosis, which may lead to either down-regulation of cancer suppressors or up-regulation of oncogenes. Therefore, defects in chromosome segregation may contribute to cancer development. As chromosome segregation is a conserved cellular process, the studies of budding yeast, a genetically tractable model organism, lay the foundation for the understanding of mitosis in human cells. This review summarizes the recent progress in chromosome segregation regulation in budding yeast S. cerevisiae and the possible application of the knowledge in cancer treatment.