Synthetic Lethal Genetic Interaction Networks and Their Utility for Anticancer Therapy

Abstract

Synthetic lethality is defined as a type of genetic interaction where two simultaneous genetic defects result in cellular death. These defects could be in the form of two independent non lethal mutations, over-expression of genes or the action of a chemical compound under a certain genetic background. The synthetic lethal genetic interaction network provides information about the functional relationship between the genes in a simple and experimentally tractable model system, such as yeast and improves our understanding for the treatment of complex human diseases. The synthetic lethal interaction data can be used to identify the gene function and to elucidate the mechanism of action of drugs. A large number of yeast genes have human orthologs and the synthetic lethal interaction data obtained from the yeast can provide excellent opportunities for therapeutics in cancer cell lines that can be extended up to drug developmental stage. This chapter provides the overview of genetic diversity of yeast using a synthetic lethal interaction network in order to identify function of genes of interest, mechanism of drug action and cancer therapy in higher eukaryotes. Furthermore, yeast as a model system for viral pathogenesis studies has also been discussed.