New buds usually form next to old bud sites (top) but can form on top of the old one in cells missing Rga1 (bottom).

Like lightning, yeast bud sites never strike twice in the same place. Now, Tong et al. reveal that a zone of GTPase inhibition prevents a new bud site from overlapping with the previous site.

The process of budding leaves behind a scar in the cell wall. Each cell cycle creates a new yeast scar, as new division sites never fall on top of previous ones. Scientists wondered whether the scars might make the cell wall too rigid for a new bud site to form there. But the new findings show that the physical properties of the wall are not to blame.

New bud sites repeatedly formed at the same site—on top of a scar—when a GTPase-activating protein (GAP) called Rga1 was...

The Rockefeller University Press
2007
The Rockefeller University Press
2007
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