The key difference between budding yeast and fission yeast is that budding yeast is Saccharomyces cerevisiae which forms a bud from the mother cell during the reproduction while fission yeast is Schizosaccharomyces pombe which divides by medial fission.
Budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe are two excellent model organisms in basic sciences. Both are unicellular ascomycete fungi that produce asci. They have well-characterized genomes. Budding yeast reproduces via budding while fission yeast reproduces via fission. Moreover, budding yeast begins cytokinesis at G1 phase while fission yeast begins cytokinesis at the G2 phase.
CONTENTS
1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Budding Yeast
3. What is Fission Yeast
4. Similarities Between Budding Yeast and Fission Yeast
5. Side by Side Comparison – Budding Yeast vs Fission Yeast in Tabular Form
6. Summary
What is Budding Yeast?
Budding yeast or Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a species of yeast that reproduces through budding. It forms a small bud from the mother cell. Then the bud grows and completes the division. Once matured, daughter cell detaches from the mother cell and lives as an independent individual yeast cell. The cytokinesis of budding yeast begins at G1 phase. It also chooses its division plane at the beginning of the cell cycle. Moreover, budding yeast is believed to exist mostly as a diploid, unlike fission yeast. Budding yeast has a round shape.
Figure 01: Budding Yeast
In budding yeast, microtubules are dispensable for cell polarization. Budding yeast avoids using previous division sites for the formation of the daughter bud since it causes cell lethality. Therefore, it selects a new site for growth.
What is Fission Yeast?
Fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe is a yeast species that reproduces through fission. During the division, fission yeast forms a septum or cell plate at the midpoint of the cell and divides it into two equal daughter cells. Similar to budding yeast, fission yeast is also a popular model eukaryote. It is stable as haploid.
Figure 02: Fission Yeast
The cells of fission yeast are rod-shaped. In fission yeast, microtubules play a critical role in marking cell poles for growth by depositing landmarks. Unlike budding yeast, fission yeast uses the previous division site as new growth site.
What are the Similarities Between Budding Yeast and Fission Yeast?
- Budding yeast and fission yeast are two types of yeasts based on reproduction.
- They are unicellular free-living fungi belonging to Ascomycota.
- Both types use an actomyosin-based contractile ring to execute cell division.
- The major lipids in both yeast species are glycerophospholipids, sphingolipids, and sterols.
- Both budding yeast and fission yeast provide an easy-to-manipulate genetic system for studying the cell cycles.
What is the Difference Between Budding Yeast and Fission Yeast?
The key difference between budding yeast and fission yeast is that budding is a reproduction method of budding yeast, while fission is the reproduction method of fission yeast. Budding yeast spends an extended period of time in G1 phase while fission yeast spends an extended period of time in G2 phase. Moreover, budding yeast is a spherical unicellular eukaryote while fission yeast is a rod-shaped unicellular eukaryote.
The below infographic tabulates side by side the differences between budding yeast and fission yeast.
Summary – Budding Yeast vs Fission Yeast
Both budding yeast and fission yeast have well-studied genomes, and they provide easy-to manipulate genetic systems for studying the cell cycles and chromosome dynamics. In budding yeast, smaller daughter cells pinch or bud off the mother cell. In fission yeast, a septum or cell plate is formed at the midpoint of the cell and divides into two equal-size daughter cells. Budding yeast spends more time in G1 phase while fission yeast spends more time in G2 phase. Thus, this is the summary of the difference between budding yeast and fission yeast.
Reference:
1. Duina, Andrea A., et al. “Budding Yeast for Budding Geneticists: A Primer on the Saccharomyces Cerevisiae Model System.” Genetics, Genetics, 1 May 2014, Available here.
Image Courtesy:
1. “Saccharomyces cerevisiae SEM” By Mogana Das Murtey and Patchamuthu Ramasamy – [1] (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “Fission yeast” By David O Morgan – The Cell Cycle. Principles of Control. via Commons Wikimedia
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