We consider yeast a valuable model eukaryotic cell in which to examine fundamental issues that are important for human health and disease. For many years, we have investigated the genes that control cell division, cell communication, cell polarity and the fidelity of cellular reproduction. All of these processes involve ensembles of proteins which, through their interactions, accomplish remarkable behaviors. I have recently become intrigued by a very fundamental difference between the artificial way we work on problems like these in model systems and the reality of human biology. In model systems, we study the role of genes in a single genetic background.
All individuals are genetically identical.
However, in the human population as well as with most organisms living in nature, the genetic background is diverse. My lab is beginning to study the role of natural variation in the behavioral output of molecular pathways using cell division and cell mating as examples.