sng2-1/cut4-, cut4-533, and cut9-665
mutant exhibit two alternative states of expression of silent mat2
locus. A, sng2-1 mutant having the mat2-proximal
silencer deleted (REIIΔ) exhibits light (L) and dark
(D) colonies upon iodine staining, which are metastable and switch to
the opposite state at a low rate. The rate of switching was determined
according to Ref. 17.
B, the light and dark states show low and high levels, respectively,
of ura4 expression as monitored by serial dilution assay on plates
lacking uracil or containing FOA. C, cut4-533 and cut9-665
mutants also exhibit the two epigenetic states of silencing in the strain
background Msmto REIIΔ mat2::ura4, which show
relatively less stability than the sng2-1 mutant histogram.
D, the dark (D) and light (L) colonies exhibit high
and low levels of ura4 transcripts, respectively. RT-PCR for
ura4 and act1 as a negative control was carried out
according to Singh et al.
(41).