Sir Paul Nurse: Yeast 'could prove vital'

Professor Gordon McVie, joint director general of the charity Cancer Research UK, said: "This is a huge step forward in understanding the basic biology behind cancer."

Among the team who made the discovery is Sir Paul Nurse, joint director of Cancer Research UK and a recipient of the Nobel prize for Medicine for his work in yeast cell study.

'Vital'

Fission yeast, scientifically known as schizosaccharomyces pombe, is used for making a type of African beer and differs from the more commonly-known baker's yeast.

Scientists discovered that 50 of the yeast's genes had "significant" similarity with genes that exist in human diseases.

This small organism could prove vital in helping to better understand and treat cancer and other diseases

Sir Paul Nurse, Cancer Research UK

Over half of these genes are cancer-related but the rest also have importance being ones for cystic fibrosis, hereditary deafness and non-insulin dependent diabetes.

The benefit of such a breakthrough is down to the formation of the yeast cells - which are easier to study than human cells.

The team say they will be able to gain a better understanding of what each gene controls and how they may be involved in cancer and other human diseases.

Sir Paul Nurse said: "This small organism could prove vital in helping to better understand and treat cancer and other diseases."

'Basic blocks of life'

The decoding of so-called higher life-forms - those which have cells but are placed higher than bacteria - is a precise process.

The breakthrough over fission yeast is only the sixth decoding of a higher life form.

Fission yeast is found on banana skins in Africa

Professor Gordon McVie, joint director general of Cancer Research UK said: "Cells are the basic blocks upon which life is built, and by understanding how they grow and develop, we will be able to develop new treatments to fight cancer - this research will help towards that goal."

The study team - which also included Dr Bart Barrell and Val Wood from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute near Cambridge - was an international collaboration.

Important

The scientists followed the sequence of two-thirds of the fission yeast genome - the genetic blueprint of the yeast - enabling them to plot the whole genetic sequence.

Analysis of the genome was conducted by Cancer Research UK and the Sanger Centre and second phase of sequencing was carried out by a European Consortium, led by the Sanger Institute.

In this process the scientists were able to identify highly conserved genes important for the cell organisation of the yeast.

Val Wood said the results demonstrated the value of sharing information on the genetics of life forms.

News of the yeast discovery features in Wednesday's edition of Nature magazine.