Stabilizing effect of caffeine on a respirationally unstable strain of yeast

Abstract

A respirationally unstable strain R6U2 of haploid yeast spontaneously produced respiration-deficient (RD) mutants in unusually high frequencies. Addition of small doses up to 1200 mg/l of caffeine to the culture media considerably reduced the production of RD mutants. The effect was only temporary and the RD mutants again appeared in high frequencies when the cultures were freed from caffeine. It was demonstrated that caffeine rendered the strain more stable and reduced the production of mutant progeny from the normal but unstable mother cells.