Construction of yeast vectors with resistance to geneticin

Two Escherichia coli-Saccharomyces cerevisiae shuttle vectors containing a resistance marker to geneticin (G418) are constructed. Both vectors contain a kanamycin-resistant marker (KanMX4) module coding aminoglycoside 3'-phosphotransferase (APH) that renders E. coli resistant to kanamycin and S. cerevisiae to geneticin. These vectors overcome the shortage of the conventional yeast vectors bearing HIS3, TRP1, LEU2, and URA3 modules as selection markers, which require hosts to be auxotrophic. Green fluorescent protein (GFP) is used as the reporter to examine the functions of the vectors. The vectors are powerful tools for the convenient cloning and controlled expression of genes in most S. cerevisiae strains.