Maintenance of the 2 micron circle plasmid of Saccharomyces cerevisiae by sexual transmission: an example of a selfish DNA.

Many eukaryotic mobile elements have been identified, but few have any obvious function. This has led to the proposal that many such elements may be parasitic DNA. We have used the 2 micron circle plasmid of Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a model system to investigate the maintenance of a cryptic genetic element. We find that under certain conditions this plasmid can spread through experimental populations despite demonstrable selection against it. This spread is dependent upon outbreeding, suggesting that cell to cell transmission of the plasmid during the yeast sexual cycle can counterbalance selection, and maintain the plasmid in populations. This result provides experimental support for the idea that some mobile elements may be parasitic DNA.