High-frequency transformation of the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe

The fission yeast, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, has been used extensively for genetic studies but until now it has not been utilized as a host organism for DNA cloning. Here we describe a method for high-frequency transformation of a leu 1− strain of this yeast with hybrid plasmids containing the Saccharomyces cerevisiae LEU 2+ gene, a bacterial plasmid and either the S. cerevisiae 2 µm plasmid or autonomously replicating sequences (ars)1 derived from S. pombe DNA. Some of the plasmids contain unique restriction sites which make them suitable for the isolation of S. pombe genes, and they can also be used for the exchange of DNA between S. pombe and S. cerevisiae.