Selective fitness of four episomal shuttle-vectors carrying HIS3, LEU2, TRP1, and URA3 selectable markers in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

A comparison of the selective fitness of four 2-microm-based shuttle-plasmids carrying the yeast genes HIS3, LEU2, TRP1, and URA3 was performed. The effect of each marker on long-term growth rate and plasmid maintenance was measured. In selective medium, the LEU2 and URA3 plasmids were maintained at the lowest and the highest levels, respectively, while the HIS3 and TRP1 plasmids were maintained at an intermediate level. In synthetic complete medium, plasmid loss rate was lower for the genes TRP1 and URA3 than for the other two markers, and a similar pattern was observed for cells growing in rich medium. These results were confirmed by competition experiments among transformants with different plasmids in complete and rich media, indicating a different degree of fitness for the markers used. A potential correlation of the energy cost of plasmid maintenance with the secondary DNA structure and the level of expression of the selective markers is also investigated.