蛋白質的甲基化是一種常見的轉譯後修飾，雖然截至目前已發現許多甲基酶以及被甲基化的位置，但仍有許多的甲基酶以及其作用位置仍未被找出。 啤酒酵母菌（Saccharomyces cerevisiae）中的YJR129c目前僅推測其可能是依賴S-腺核苷甲硫胺酸的甲基轉移酶，經由綠螢光蛋白可得知它存在於細胞質中，但其作用目標與相關機轉皆不知道。 為了研究YJR129c與其他基因之間的關聯性，本實驗選擇了合成致死篩選法（Synthetic lethal screening）來觀察基因層面的關聯性，以推測YJR129c的功能。此方法是藉由剔除YJR129c這非必須基因，並藉由隨機突變來觀察，哪些基因在YJR129c不存在時參與了補足它的功能，這些經由篩選得到的結果，將有助於推測YJR129c的真正功能，以及其在功能路徑裡所扮演的角色。 Protein methylation is a phenomenon of frequent occurrence. Althought a lot of methyltransferases and their substrates have been identify, but still many methyltransferases or substrates remain unknown. The YJR129c in Saccharomyces cerevisiae was predicted to be encoding an S-adenosylmethionine-dependent methyltransferase ; green fluorescent protein (GFP)-fusion protein localizes to the cytoplasm, but its substrate and functional pathway are totally unknown. To analyze the genetic interaction between YJR129c and the other genes, we have used synthetic lethal screening to reveal the role of YJR129c. We constructed a strain with deleted YJR129c, which is a nonessential gene, then randomly mutagenized this strain to find out which gene complements YJR129c. These observations will help us to reveal the function of YJR129c and the pathway in which YJR129c plays a role.
