The isolation and characterization of a mutant strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae that requires a long chain base for growth and for synthesis of phosphosphingolipids.

A mutant of Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been obtained that shows an absolute growth requirement for long chain bases found in sphingolipids. In the absence of a long chain base, the cells are unable to synthesize the phosphoinositol-containing sphingolipids characteristic of yeast. These results suggest that one or more of the yeast sphingolipids plays a vital biological role.