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Mating

Yeast has two mating types, a and α (alpha), which show primitive aspects of sex differentiation. As in many other eukaryotes, mating leads to genetic recombination, i.e. production of novel combinations of chromosomes. Two haploid yeast cells of opposite mating type can mate to form diploid cells that can either sporulate to form another generation of haploid cells or continue to exist as diploid cells. Mating has been exploited by biologists as a tool to combine genes, plasmids, or proteins at will.

The mating pathway employs a G protein-coupled receptor, G protein, RGS protein, and three-tiered MAPK signaling cascade that is homologous to those found in humans. This feature has been exploited by biologists to investigate basic mechanisms of signal transduction and desensitization.