Direct simulation of yeast 2-μm circle plasmid amplification

The 2-μm circle is a plasmid found in most strains of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae at approximately 60-100 copies per cell. The plasmid possesses the novel capacity for replicative amplification induced by site-specific recombination. To address the question of whether the recombination model is adequate to account for observed rates of 2-μm circle amplification, we developed a direct computational simulation of the amplification system. Results of this simulation show that theoretically at least six copies per plasmid can be produced in each generation, and that previously unanticipated replication intermediates contribute largely to this degree of amplification.