A team of scientists, led by Leonid Kruglyak (left), a professor in Princeton University's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, has developed a straightforward method for studying millions of yeast cells at the same time. The scientists believe the method ultimately could lead to a deeper understanding of how multiple genes interact. Ian Ehrenreich (right), a postdoctoral research fellow and first author on the Nature paper, said the team was determined to go beyond conventional methodologies to find a way that would allow them to identify multiple genes.

Image: Princeton University, Office of Communications, Denise Applewhite

Kruglyak and his team developed a method using a sample size of yeast that went beyond the scale of any human studies. They crossed two strains of yeast, generating about 10 million offspring such as those shown on this Petri dish.

Image: Princeton University, Office of Communications, Denise Applewhite

The plating experiment in this image shows how yeast strains vary in resistance to a drug. Different strains (horizontal rows) were grown at cell densities that decrease from left to right. Sensitive strains only are capable of growing when plated at high density, while resistant strains are capable of growing even at low density. By studying very large populations of yeast, Princeton scientists have developed a new way to identify the hidden genetic material responsible for genetically complex drug resistance traits.

Image: Ian Ehrenreich/Kruglyak Lab