A picture is worth a thousand words: Genomics to phenomics in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Vizeacoumar, Franco J.; Chong, Yolanda; Boone, Charles; Andrews, Brenda J.

doi:10.1016/j.febslet.2009.03.068

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Volume 583, Issue 11 , Pages 1656-1661, 5 June 2009

A picture is worth a thousand words: Genomics to phenomics in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Edited by Miguel De la Rosa

Banting and Best Department of Medical Research, Terrence Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 3E1

Received 17 February 2009; received in revised form 26 March 2009; accepted 31 March 2009. published online 06 April 2009.

Abstract

Large scale cell biological experiments are beginning to be applied as a systems-level approach to decipher mechanisms that govern cellular function in health and disease. The use of automated microscopes combined with digital imaging, machine learning and other analytical tools has enabled high-content screening (HCS) in a variety of experimental systems. Successful HCS screens demand careful attention to assay development, data acquisition methods and available genomic tools. In this minireview, we highlight developments in this field pertaining to yeast cell biology and discuss how we have combined HCS with methods for automated yeast genetics (synthetic genetic array (SGA) analysis) to enable systematic analysis of cell biological phenotypes in a variety of genetic backgrounds.

Keywords: High-content screen, Yeast cell biology, Yeast functional genomics