How does acetamide selection work?
This is a nitrogen source selection. A cell transformation mixture (containing a population of cells that are either transformed or untransformed by vector pKLAC1) is spread onto yeast carbon base (YCB) medium agar containing 5 mM acetamide. YCB medium contains all of the nutrients and carbon source required for K. lactis cells to grow, but lacks a nitrogen source. The acetamide provided in the medium can be utilized as source of nitrogen only if it is broken down to ammonia by the enzyme acetamidase (expressed from the amdS gene present on pKLAC1). Therefore, only transformed cells are able to grow into colonies.
