The awesome power of yeast evolutionary genetics: New genome sequences and strain resources for the Saccharomyces sensu stricto genus

We present revised genome sequences of three species of Saccharomyces sensu stricto yeasts, S. bayanus (CBS 7001), S. kudriavzevii (IFO 1802T and ZP 591), and S. mikatae (IFO 1815T), and describe their comparison to the genomes of S. cerevisiae and S. paradoxus. The new sequences were derived by co-assembling next-generation Illumina sequencing reads with previously published Sanger sequencing reads and have greater long-range continuity and fewer gaps than the existing genome sequences. New gene predictions define a set of ? orthologs across the five most commonly studied Saccharomyces yeasts and enabled a re-examination of the tempo and mode of yeast gene evolution and identification of likely species-specific gains and losses. We also generated genetically marked, stable haploid strains for all three of these Saccharomyces species. These nearly complete genome sequences and the collection of genetically marked strains provide a valuable toolset for comparative studies of gene function, metabolism, and evolution, and render Saccharomyces sensu stricto yeasts the most experimentally tractable model genus. These resources are freely available and accessible through a centralized online database at ?