Nuclear and cytoplasmic cross-resistance and correlated sensitivity to DNA intercalating drugs in a petite-negative yeast

Ethidium bromide and acriflavin-resistant mutants of petite-negative yeast Kluyveromyces lactis were prepared. One kind of nuclear mutation (EB^R1) gave resistance to ethidium bromide and correlated sensitivity towards acriflavin. Another nuclear mutation (EB^R2) did not affect ‘natural’ resistance of this yeast towards 15 μM acriflavin. Both nuclear mutations mapped at different loci, suggesting lack of linkage. Cytoplasmic mutants resistant to these two drugs were unstable when grown in complete media with dextrose, reverting to a wild-type resistance genotype. When grown in glycerol-containing media these mutants maintained their cytoplasmic drug-resistance conferring factors.