An international team, in which Spanish researchers from the CSIC and the University of Salamanca have participated, has managed to sequence all the genes of a single-celled yeast, an advance that can provide important knowledge about basic cell biology and the development of cancer.
The research has been led by Dr. Paul Nurse, winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Medicine. The yeast whose genome has been sequenced is Schizosaccharomyces pombe, and it is the second microorganism of this type to be mapped since the publication in 1997 of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae genome. .
The article is published in "Nature", where the authors point out that 50 of the 4,824 yeast genes are similar to those associated with human diseases such as cystic fibrosis, hereditary deafness, diabetes or cancer.
By studying this small, simple genome, scientists hope to discover new clues about cells and how cancer develops in humans. Many of the processes that occur in yeast cells when they divide, Dr. Nurse explains, use genes that are closely related to those that cause cancer in humans. "This small organism can be vital for a better understanding of cancer and its treatment," he adds.
