Interactome of Proteins Encoded by Cytoplasmic Linear Plasmids of the Yeast Kluyveromyces lactis

Abstract

Yeast linear dsDNA plasmids are found in certain yeast species, including Kluyveromyces lactis, Debaryomyces robertsiae, and Pichia acaciae. Due to their structural and functional similarity mainly to poxviruses, these plasmids are often referred to as virus-like elements (VLEs). Common VLE characteristics include cytoplasmic localization, compact genome organization, the presence of covalently attached terminal proteins, and independence from the host cell's replication and transcription machinery. The first discovered VLEs were the pGKL1 and pGKL2 plasmids from Kluyveromyces lactis (Gunge et al., 1981), which nowadays serve as a model system for yeast linear plasmids.