Yeast goes viral: probing SARS-CoV-2 biology using S. cerevisiae

Brandon Ho; Raphael Loll-Krippleber; Grant W Brown

doi:10.15698/mic2022.04.774

Yeast goes viral: probing SARS-CoV-2 biology using S. cerevisiae

Microb Cell. 2022 Mar 21;9(4):80-83. doi: 10.15698/mic2022.04.774. eCollection 2022 Apr 4.

Authors

Brandon Ho¹, Raphael Loll-Krippleber¹, Grant W Brown¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Biochemistry and Donnelly Centre, University of Toronto, 160 College Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S3E1.

Abstract

The budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has long been an outstanding platform for understanding the biology of eukaryotic cells. Robust genetics, cell biology, molecular biology, and biochemistry complement deep and detailed genome annotation, a multitude of genome-scale strain collections for functional genomics, and substantial gene conservation with Metazoa to comprise a powerful model for modern biological research. Recently, the yeast model has demonstrated its utility in a perhaps unexpected area, that of eukaryotic virology. Here we discuss three innovative applications of the yeast model system to reveal functions and investigate variants of proteins encoded by the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; cell surface display; directed evolution; protein interactions; virus genome assembly; yeast.

Publication types

Comment

Grants and funding

Our lab is supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and the Canada Research Chairs Program. We are grateful to work on the lands of the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnaabeg, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples, land that is now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples.