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. 1993 Jul;134(3):701–716. doi: 10.1093/genetics/134.3.701

Tsf1 to Tsf6, Required for Silencing the Saccharomyces Cerevisiae Gal Genes, Are Global Regulatory Genes

S Chen 1, R W West-Jr 1, J Ma 1, S L Johnson 1, H Gans 1, G Woldehawariat 1
PMCID: PMC1205509  PMID: 8349104

Abstract

The Saccharomyces cerevisiae GAL1 and GAL10 genes are controlled in response to the availability of galactose and glucose by multiple activating and repressing proteins bound at adjacent or overlapping sites in UAS(G). Negative control elements in UAS(G), designated GAL operators GALO(1) to GALO(6), are required to silence basal level transcription of GAL1 and GAL10 when galactose is absent. We isolated and characterized recessive mutations in six nuclear genes, TSF1 to TSF6, that impair silencing of GAL1 and GAL10 gene expression. Surprisingly, the results of several experiments suggest that the TSF genes encode global regulatory factors. tsf1 to tsf6 mutations derepressed expression from yeast CYC-GAL hybrid promoters (fused to lacZ) that harbor a variety of operator sequences, and caused pleiotropic defects in cell growth, mating, and sporulation. S1 mapping and Northern blot results for tsf3 suggest that the molecular defect is at the transcriptional level. Mutant phenotypes were additive in certain combinations of tsf double mutants, implying that more than one silencing pathway is involved in TSF1 to TSF6 function. Most significantly, mutations in all six TSF1 to TSF6 genes activated expression from GAL1 and CYC1 promoters (fused to lacZ) lacking upstream activating sequences. Combined, the simplest interpretation of these results is that TSF1 to TSF6 encode factors that control the function of the basic RNA polymerase II transcriptional machinery.

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Selected References

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